mm^'^m^M 



m 









m% 



ii&&s%&i 



I 



[m«jy^ffi PES BEB| 







M^ : :;,;. .. 






1 






ran Hi 

BflHi 

I HI 

SHhGHHh n 

EBB WWHWM JMIBj B^PiS**'^ 



'vAf^ 






J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! 
# : #< 

J UNITED STATES OF* fill RICA ' 



THE 



ENSEALED BOOK; 



OE, 



SEQUEL TO "MISUNDERSTOOD." 



/ 7 



B! J. BEACH 




The Philosophy of Life ! How grand the theme 
Which long has been a sealed book I Reason 



f^^ W y /\y^^ n ^ science, come hither and lend your aid ! 



And you, kind friends, of every land and tongue, 
Come help unfold and view the lettered scroll — 
Angel emblem — from which God's thoughts are sung. 
In realms of space electric wires go forth, 
Reaching unto the suns and starry spheres, 
From whence millions of spirit-tongues respond 
Unto our weak and trembling notes forlorn. 
Then let this glorious, happy theme, loved ones, 
Our aspiration, inspiration be, 
From this day forth forevermore ! Stand firm 
For truth and right. " And if the God within 
Says, * Well done,' what are other gods to thee ? " 



^ 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

1877 






Copyright, 1877, 
By EMILY J. BEACH. 



DEDICATION, 



THE GOOD, THE BRAVE, THE TRUE, 

IN PALACE OR COT, 

TO YOU I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME ; 

AND ESPECIALLY TO YOU, 

MY SOUTHERN FRIENDS, 

BENEATH WHOSE SUNNY SKIES IT SPRANG FORTH J 

SINCERELY THANKING YOU FOR YOUR 

KINDNESS AND SYMPATHY, 

AND WITH HEARTY GOOD WISHES FOR YOUR WELFARE 

AND LABORS OF LOVE. 



PREFATORY NOTE 

BY THE AUTHOE. 



V 



Since my first half-fledged work went forth, I have been im- 
pelled by a power not mine own, and which I would fain have 
resisted, — more especially because of the cool and disf avorable 
reception of " Misunderstood," — to again enlist in the battle for 
spiritual liberty, or physical death, the latter being much more in 
accordance with my feelings and desires at the time. 

Many, doubtless, who read these pages, will be surprised to find 
their sentiments — expressed in their own language, and addressed 
personally to me — here made public. To such I will say : You 
cannot be more dumbfounded and chagrined than was I, when 
the character of this work first dawned upon my clouded vision ; 
at a time, too, when I would fain have consigned my first offshoot 
to the fate of oblivion, — myself following in train, — so far, at 
least, as earth and earthly hopes prevailed. 

The only apology which I can render is, that it was so ordained 
by the " powers that be " ; at the same time, I pledge my word of 
honor never to reveal the identity of those whose writings are 
thus made public ; they will, therefore, be recognized only by 
themselves, unless it be through their own instrumentality. 

I will further say, as evidence of spiritual power and agency, 
that I was taken unawares, as it were, and the work which has 
been accomplished through me was unpremeditated, although a 
faint prediction of the same, which I could not credit at the time, 
had been given. From this it will be seen that no preparatory 
study or research had been made. Yet, notwithstanding all this, 
less than a year has elapsed since the first pages of " Misunder- 
stood " were penned ; and the contents of both works have since 

5 



6 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

been dictated and compiled, with the exception of twelve short 
pieces, — the last ones in this book, the very last being my very 
first. 

Also, that nearly three months intervened between the finale of 
the first and the commencement of the second volumes, so that 
the time actually employed in their construction could not have 
exceeded nine months ; and included in these were many days in 
which I was unable to write at all, others in which I could only 
devote a comparatively small portion of the day to my labors. 

I say this not in egotism, taking no credit unto myself, except a 
conformity, so far as lay in my power, to the will and direction of 
the controlling agencies, whose work this is, and to whom, by and 
through a still higher power, is all the credit due. 

April, 1876. 



I would here state that, owing to the depression in monetary 
and business matters, I have been unable to proceed with the pub- 
lication of this work as I desired; nearly six months having 
already elapsed since the completion of the manuscript. How 
long a period will now intervene before it can be brought before 
the public, I am unable to say. 

E. J. BEACH. 

October, 1870. 



INTRODUCTION 

BY CHARLES A. FRAZIER. 



A gbateful and appreciative public should always look to the good 
effects likely to be produced by the production of a book, looking 
to the good or evil it may disseminate in the community in a well- 
being state of mind or character, such as may have been seen 
through the dim visage of nature's own dimensions of intellect 
and capacity for good or evil communications, of rare habits and 
influence, subject to be controlled by superficial exhalations of 
neglectful subterfuges of usefulness, to be conducted through the 
mediumistic powers of those whose business it is to procure abso- 
lution for the want of those requisites that go far to make the 
man after God's own image, — stamped and rectified to know, and 
serve out his destiny according to the acquirements of the philo- 
sophical mind inculcated by a due obedience to those moral pre- 
cepts which govern all men in their actions, to serve God accord- 
ing to the wisdom they possess, — notwithstanding the opposition 
they meet in their daily walks through life. 

A great many men think of the persecutions others, who have 
gone on before them, have been subjected to ; rejoicing in the 
good fight they made, almost unconsciously to themselves, through 
the mediumistic powers uhich they possessed, rendering them ca- 
pable of being influenced imperceptibly in various ways and at 
sundries time, when their thoughts were at peace with God and 
man. At the same time, almost unknown to themselves in conse- 
quence of the absence of all thought of selfishness or gain o\ 
this world's goods, and not likely to be abandoned at every turn 
of the road they may encounter in passing over the highways 
of the glorious Eedeemer, who vouchsafed redemption to man in 

7 



8 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

immortality of life, commensurate with his state of being appre- 
ciative of the good qualities which bind man's allegiance to his 
Maker in all time to come, let the consequences be what they 
may in the sense understood by all those of an inquiring mind 
and close observance of the things of this life, which go far to de- 
molish the misunderstanding of things rare and beautiful, — al- 
though quite unintelligible to the ordinary mind, and looked upon 
in a general way as superlative in the aggressive cases, — under- 
stood by those who have been enjoying a forward move towards 
the annihilation of the dead issues of this mortal life, void of 
results of knowledge, and void of proper intelligence to appre- 
ciate those good qualities of heart that are continually — and im- 
perceptibly as it were — moving on and forward to aggrandize and 
buoy up the fallen spirits of this world, and lead and teach them 
their duties to each other and their Maker. 

Also, by and through the hidden paths of Spiritualism, as pro- 
claimed and promulgated by those who preceded us thousands of 
years ago, — the great first teachers, — of the mysteries of the 
hidden spirit land, peopled by all who have gone on and are con- 
tinually retracing the path to visit, instruct, and warn us of the 
profligacy of the times we live in, the final destruction of the 
earthly tenement we inhabit, and the promise of a glorious spir- 
itual one, when we pass over as one of God's good and faithful 
subjects who obeyed his laws and precepts understandingly, ac- 
cording to the wisdom obtained from his instruments of power 
and knowledge to carry on the work of man's salvation, by means 
of the spiritual communion based on correct knowledge of the 
divine precepts taught by our Saviour and his apostles, and now 
being verified by the visits of the great and good angelic spirits, 
sent to us for our enlightenment. The profound theologian may 
have much cause for rejoicing at the mode of spiritual communi- 
cations if he will but examine the mysteries of the spirit world in 
a spiritual and godly mood, throwing away his earthly vanity, 
and inhale the true and beautiful spiritual truths that are being 
brought forward by an enlightened spirit, to search the truths 
of God's holy works, and prepare man for the coming millen- 
nium. 

This book treats of facts in simplicity, diversity, and benevo- 
lence. It leads you on in an every-day style of life, taking up all 
stations in the line of march. It moves forward, gathering a 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 9 

little here, a fact there, and a solemn truth beyond. Sagacity 
and Love rule the roast, and Good Feeling does the basting. The 
instruction to be gained from a perusal of its pages, in a general 
way, will amply repay the time spent in its perusal. Awkward- 
ness is shown up by bad predicaments caused thereby. Selfish- 
ness and want of charity come in in an ungodly air to suit. 
Love and benevolence shine brightly over its pages, while Christ 
and the spiritual communion throw their mantle over the sins of 
the world, and call on man to resurrect, regenerate, and reinform 
himself to meet the exigencies of the times ; and to rehabiliment 
himself to push forward the great and glorious work of reform 
and good- will to man in the highest, leaving no stone unturned 
that may be brought up to help aid and finish his spiritual tem- 
ple, whereby he may appear in " due form " when he throws of! 
this mortal earthly coil, and habiliments himself with the new 
spiritual form of righteousness, in order to enjoy all that is great, 
good, and eternal in the heavens, where no more jealousies, anxie- 
ties, or bad influences will enter his mind to bring down sorrow 
and destruction as seen, felt, and prostrated poor fallen man in 
this wicked home on earth. 

CHAKLES A. FRAZIEK. 
Charlotte, N. C, April 26, 1876. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



" I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a 
great voice, as of a trumpet ; 

" Saying, I am alpha and omega, the first and the last ; and, 
What thou seest write in a book." 

I sat me down in silence, friends, within 
My room so bright with birds, pictures, and flow'rs ; 
A voice within me said, Write down thy thoughts ; 
And more will come. I was not told to write 
A book, and why ? The veil was not taken 
Away ; one corner only had been raised ; 
I could see not far — just a few steps in 
Advance — no more. Had one unto me said, 
" A book thou shalt write ; a few months hence thou 
Shalt behold hundreds of pages which have 
By thee been penned," should I have then believed 
This bold assertion ? Not I ; my faith was 
Not equal thereto. They forced me not my 
Powers beyond, but kindly, gently, as days 
And weeks went by, they guided and directed 
Me in waking hours, and their night-watch kept. 
Had I, then, naught to do ? " Alas ! dear friends, 
No heaven-born genius, as ye simply deemed, 
Stirred in my childish heart the love of song ; 
'T was feeling, finely organized perhaps 
To keen perceptions of the beautiful, 
The great in art or nature, sight or sound. 
Books were not my playfellows. Trees, and flowers, 

11 



12 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And murmuring rivulets, and merry birds, 

And painted insects, all were books to me, 

And beautiful language, from the dawn of sense 

Familiar to my heart." My early days 

And years had been so filled with toil and strife, 

There seemed no time for aught beside the daily 

Round of homely duties ; my school I loved, 

Yet even there sore trials did await. 

What others learned in " double quick " scarce came 

At all to me ; my mental powers seemed dull 

And thick, my faculties all fast asleep. 

Was this a fault of mine, think ye ? But stay — 

It matters not — we have not now the time 

To trace the cause. Come forward then with me, 

For now, thank God ! the veil is lifted higher ; 

Ask ye how came it so ? was it mine own 

Strivings alone ? Was it by dint of study, or by 

Earth's discipline harsh? Nay, my friends, not these. 

" Adversity, like the pale wreath of snow, 

Falls on the youthful heart, a seeming load, — 

But seeming such, for after certain space 

Continuing there, and if it finds the soil 

Not wholly sterile, to the frozen mass 

Of its own latent virtues, it imparts 

A fertilizing warmth, that penetrates 

The surface of obdurate worldliness. 

Then from the barren waste (no longer such) 

Uprising a thousand amaranthine flowers 

' Whose fragrance smells of heaven.' Desires chastened, 

Enlarged affections, tender charities, 

Long suff'ring mercy, and the snowdrop buds 

Of heavenly meekness, — these, and thousands more 

As beautiful, as kindly, are called forth, 

Adversity! beneath thy fost'ring shade." 

Hast thou this done for me, Adversity? 
In part thou hast, not all ; sorrows, so deep 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 13 

Their forces did mth thine unite. And then? 

Then, my friends, the angels came; beautiful 

Angels, heavenly messengers. How they love ! 

No heaven before my soul had known compared 

With this. To me they were both meat and drink ; 

Or, rather, they unto my soul did give 

The same. Each day came manna, just enough ; 

No portion of the same left over till 

The morrow. Why did they give this heavenly 

Food ? and was it sent for me alone ? nay, 

All who gathered once received ; it hath been 

So, is now, yea, ever shall be so, for 

Thus God's angels pure do teach : He is "the 

Same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 

So are the laws He doth create. 

What came they for, these messengers of love ? 

What came they for in olden time but to 

Fulfil the purpose of the great " lam"? 

We 're told his purposes will ripen fast, 

Unfolding every hour, and so they do. 

Yet hours and days, yea, years unnumbered in 

The flight of time, may come and go, and still 

The cry will be the same ; for us below, 

More light, more love, we pray, to guide our souls 

Above. Ask ye, my friends, what these blest ones 

Have done for me ? One thing ye know, they have 

Me helped a book to write, and were I now 

To pen my thoughts as fast as they do come, 

Adding thereto those which came long before, 

A score of books methinks would not them all 

Contain. In dreams and visions oft they come, 

And yet I sensed their presence not until I 

" Saw shadowed out, f as in a glass revealed,' 

Things uncreated jet, that were to be." 

But of my book, — I call it mine, — they gave 



14 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Me leave, to them I do ascribe the power, — 

Indeed, the almost all in all ; and yet, 

Should I their names attach, who would believe ? 

If "might makes right," then I shall get what they 

Cannot receive ; at least not from the mass 

Of worldly minds. They from a higher source 

Will reap the "golden sheaves," while I shall reap — 

I scarce know what ; doubtless from some, 

Merits increased an hundred-fold beyond 

What my frail powers command ; from other some 

Contempt and scorn, derision undisguised, 

Coolness from those whom I have deemed true friends ; 

These things I do expect, yea, many such. 

Shall my soul in consequence be cast down ? 

A still small voice within replies, " Thy judge 

Is the great God that formed all things, therefore 

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee ; bind 

Them about thy neck ; write them upon the 

Table of thine heart ; so shalt thou find 

Favor and good understanding in the 

Sight of God and man." 

The said book I have 
Not yet seen. Five hundred copies of the 
Work have been published — so they say — and some 
I know are out. It looks very like I 
Were out — it can't be in the cold I 'm sure, 
For this is a bright, sunny land ; but weeks 
Go by, and no books "ha I — I do nae ken why," 
Unless it may be my patience to try. 
I 've written until I 'm tired of the name 
Of "Colby and Rich," place ever the same ; 
In reply, they say, "The books have been sent." 
I begin to fear they are lost, or lent. 
Some people would say it mattered not which ; 
I think, however, it dependeth much — 
I know not why this rhyme came in here, I 
Almost fear 't is out of place. Things come not 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 15 

Quickly or quite clear to my mind this day, 
My thoughts are wand'ring far away. I feel 
Somewhat as David did, when from his son 
Absalom he fled, saying, 

" Lord, how are they increased that trouble me ! many are they 
that rise up against me. 

" Many there be which say of my soul, there is no help for him 
in God. 

"But thou, Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the 
lifter up of mine head. 

" I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of 
his holy hill. I laid me down and slept ; I awaked ; for the Lord 
sustained me. 

" I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set 
themselves against me round about." 

I can say like him, I am not afraid ; 
Like him, also, I have long since fled. Where ? 
From my dearly loved home. Why ? I was to 
Them a sealed book, no page of which they wished 
To con. I could not lie upon the shelf, 
A useless, worthless incumbrance. Will they 
My book treat this same way, I wonder ? Once 
I was asked how soon the productions of 
My brain would be before the public (or 
Words to that effect) . My reply might have 
Seemed rather ungracious. It was this : "I 
Don't think they will be forced upon my friends 
Any more than my sentiments have been." 
Again, it may seem to some (who would rather 
Have never seen the volume) that it has 
Almost been forced upon them. To my friends, 
Who feel thus, I would say, Pray do not read 
One line of the same ; you have only to 
Lay the book on a shelf, or, if it please 
You as well, you may lend it to those who 
Will read ; I give you my full consent. 



16 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far 
country." 

Some letters at last ! Kejoice, O my heart, 
At the glad surprise ! So long have ye been 
In wending your way, I began to think — 
I hardly know what ; but if friends are as 
Scarce as their letters have been for the past 
Two weeks, some new ones I must try to win, 
Although but a little time ago I 
Asked for none but the "tried and true." No 
New ones can their places fill, yet I fear they 
Mostly, if not all, have " gang a gla " ! 

" A friend in need is a friend indeed " ; and 
Such, darling, were you, — or was your letter 
Kind. And so you have read our book. Do you 
Care if here I just write down what you said 
Of it? I know, dear one, you say w T hat you 
Mean, and mean w T hat you say, as well. If all 
As kindly do receive ; — but I know they 
Won't, so never mind. I '11 not give your name, 
But the language of your heart, — respecting 
The work, I mean. Your kind words endearing, 
My lone heart cheering, none other may know. 

She writes thus : — 

" I hardly know what to think ; that some power beside your 
own controlled your efforts, I am aware. I do not feel prepared 
to judge; but I must say that I like what seems to be your own 
writings the best. Your talk about the angels as ministering 
spirits is very fine, — something that we all believe in. Some of 
your writings, I think, are beautiful, and some I do not like." 

It may not be amiss to here state that this dear friend has 
never had a favorable opportunity of investigating the Spiritual 
Philosophy, or had occasion, until quite recently, to give the sub- 
ject a thought. When she says that she likes what seem to be my 
own writings the best (she does not know that I could not com- 
pile a verse of the same), I comprehend her meaning, and am only 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 17 

surprised that she deals so charitably with the parts she does not 
like. With only the experience which she has had, I fear I should 
not have done as well in her place. 

" Quench not the spirit," sister. 

" Despise not prophesyings. 

" Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good. 

" And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray 
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame- 
less." 

What is this ? Ah, sister, you too have been 

Reading our book ! and that 's your excuse 

For not writing sooner ; our sentiments 

You will somewhat indorse, I am sure, for 

You, dear one, have been long in the " way " ; that 

Way, at times, led through brambles and briers ; 

But you turned not back, though they pierced you sore, 

Though " life's sunny morn with its golden dreams " 

Was soon clouded o'er. May there not be yet 

A noontide of glory awaiting thee, 

Which shall make you feel " there 's a glad refrain," 

E'en before you reach " the other side " ? 

A prayer I find from thee, an aspiration pure, in language 
clear, concise, like your own dear self : " Heaven bless you for the 
fearless utterances of your book!" Thank you, dear. May 
Heaven bless you also, and cause your sorrows to " melt away as 
waters which run continually." If we faint not, we shall in due 
time praise the Lord aud say, " Thou hast given a banner to them 
that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth" 

This is to me a strange work : the contents 
Of my letters to place in so public 
A light. I hope, kind spirits, 'twill all be 
Right. For myself and you I have no fears ; 
But how will it be with these, our friends, whose 
Sentiments you do make me pen ? Will 
They the same kindly receive ? And will they 



18 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

See themselves as we do see them ? 

"If not, 
They sure no fault can find, as we 
No single name shall give. If they their own 
Words recognize, our opinion, friendly 
Advice as well, comes in gratis, you see. 
Therefore go forward, though you do sometimes 
Walk in paths you have not known." 

"Truly, my 
Soul waiteth upon God," but not in vain. 
I could seem, dear friends, no further to go, 
For the thoughts which came seemed only mine own. 
And these were not fraught with faith quite secure ; 
So I laid myself down to rest awhile. 
A good book had I, but I read not much. 
You may think it strange, as did I at first ; 
The ones who control me, their ivork to do, 
Are unwilling for me much else to know 
In regard to the truths which they alone 
Would impart. My mind to them, they say, is 
Like a slate. They wish it kept translucent, 
Clear, for their especial benefit. They 
Then can give their own ideas, unmixed with 
Those I might glean from other sources. 
They told me not this until our first book 
Had been written ; not in words, I mean ; but 
While this same work was progressing, I had 
Not the slightest inclination to read, 
Except it were, in occasional spare 
Moments, some seemingly trivial thing : 
I do not except the Bible, of course ; 
That always came in. Their object in not 
Telling ine this in advance I am now 
Beginning to see. Their ways have me shown 
That they consider " experience the 
Best teacher." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 19 

As I said before, T laid nie down to rest ; but as my body was 
not weary, they gave my spirit rest instead. A voice cried out, 
" Your books have come." Good news, indeed ! For near three 
weeks they had been on the road. What else have you, a. letter? 
Ah, only a bill; but why should I say only? It surely is long 
enough, and were it not paid, or mostly, would give me no peace 
by night or by day. If our books do sell well, I shall not get 
back, on this first edition, nearly so much as I have paid out in 
" ready cash," say naught of my time, the use of which, in this 
same way, has made me to feel an outcast from home. But never 
mind, here comes a " real for true " letter. Come read it with me ; 
just only your part, I mean. 

" You are a sly puss, are n't you, to send your friends a great 
big book, and that the first intimation they had that such a thing 
was contemplated ? " 

And this is all ? " Elee as a bird to your mountain " ; for we 
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. We forbear 
to say more, since the writer of the above simple lines commenced 
investigating the truths which the book is designed to teach, years 
before the book itself was in contemplation, or the writer thereof 
had learned one letter of the spiritual alphabet. 

Can " faith without works " save ? 

Another letter contains the following: "To me the book is 
quite interesting, and I should judge it would be very startling to 
some. I think it is a greal pity that it should have been misrep- 
resented about your brothers, as with those who are accquainted 
with your family, it weakens the work very much ; but perhaps 
you can explain it all." (Controlling spirit.) 

" The writer of the foregoing seems to be laboring under the 
impression that the author of the book and the subject of it are 
one and the same person. This is a slight mistake, yet one which 
surprises us, as all who are intimately acquainted with the author 
and her family must be aware that it would be a very incorrect 
record of her life ; not only so, but that for her to have placed herself 
in the exalted position and Pharisaical light of the character rep- 
resented, would have been an impossibility, nor would it corre- 
spond to one act or sentiment of her life. There are, in the book, 
some instances in which, with the aid of her poetic guide, she has 
given expression to her own thoughts and feelings, examples of 



20 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

which may be found on the two hundred and sixty-sixth and three 
hundred and sixty-ninth pages. These, and all similar ones, as a 
careful reader will readily perceive, bear no connection with the 
' medium,' who is a creature of the imagination, while the spirit- 
ual experiences are actual facts (some of which came under the 
writer's personal observation), truths, which we trust will be 
received as such. We will furthermore say, Our book has a ' Pref- 
ace/ which explains this, but which was purposely omitted in 
our first edition. While we regret that there is any misconcep- 
tion in the matter, we shall feel grateful if those things which we 
consider of minor importance are the only ones which are misun- 
derstood." 

" The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." 

I have, indeed, had a surprise this day. A clergyman of this 
place (whom I have only met once) has sent, for my perusal, a 
criticism on our work, which he has written with a view to have 
published in the " Observer." It runs as follows : — 

a It was our privilege, a few days since, to peruse a new book, 
one, too, of a unique and uncommon character. The work pos- 
sesses a rare combination of ease and dignity, simplicity and ele- 
gance, truth and sublimity. It elevates the attentive reader above 
this mundane sphere, and leads him by the still waters and among 
the green pastures of the spirit land. Lessons of the purest 
friendship and love, maxims of wisdom for promotion of health 
and progress in knowledge and usefulness, and illustrations of 
Scripture truth and practical morality, are scattered with rich pro- 
fusion and admirable taste through this little volume. The l Mis- 
understood ' (for such is its name) will be read by many seekers 
after light in order to a more agreeable development of spiritual 
power and social affections. That the author, who has come to 
reside in our midst, may be rewarded for the honest labor here 
evinced on every page to impress the truth and guard the unsus- 
pecting and the innocent against the alluring influences of evil 
spirits and wicked associates, is the earnest and fervent wish of 



We know not how to express our gratitude for this unlooked- 
for kindness, not the least of which is the endorsement of the 
sentiments expressed in " Misunderstood," which we had hardly 
dared hope would be as well understood by any one individual. 

" The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 21 

of him that ruleth among fools." Friends, " Wisdom is the prin- 
cipal thing ; therefore get wisdom ; where thon goest it shall lead 
thee ; when thou sleepest it shall keep thee ; and when thou 
awakest, it shall talk with thee." It is our earnest prayer that 
we may be permitted to say with the Psalmist, " I have taught 
thee in the way of wisdom and have led thee in right paths.' 7 

The morn was bright and fair. By your advice, 

Kind spirit friends, I took some books, just 

Only two, and sallied forth to see if 

I could find a purchaser (for 

Nary a penny had I to buy for 

A letter a stamp. For three weeks' board I 

Too was in debt) . As you promised that me 

You would attend, the result of the same 

You full well know ; if a lesson thou hast 

In connection with this, pray give it me 

Now. 

" We have, indeed, many things to say ; 
The result we know was not what you hoped 
It might be, but more was accomplished in 
Another way, a way you dreamed not of. 
Through your converse with those you met, we gained 
An insight of their character, and that 
Shall be our theme to-day. We saw thee speak 
To one, and give the book into her hand ; 
But when she learned of what the same did treat, 
She quickly did release, as if afraid 
Of it and you. Her mind we saw was not 
At ease, nor should we be surprised if, had 
All been clearly revealed, we might have seen 
1 Thoughts that are almost murmurs whisper low, 
Stinging comparisons, suggestions sad, 
Of what I am, and what I might have been. 
This earth so wide and glorious ! I fast bound 
(A human lichen) to one narrow spot, 
A sickly, worthless weed ! Such brave, bright spirits 



22 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Starring the nether sphere, and I, lone wretch, 
Cut off from oral intercourse with all ! 
The day far spent, and O, how little known ! 
The night at hand, alas ! and nothing done ; 
And neither f word, nor knowledge, nor device, 
Nor wisdom, in the grave whereto I go.' 

And little Annie, — what will Annie be ? 

The fair-haired prattler ! she, with matron airs, 

Who gravely lectures her rebellious doll ; 

? Annie will be papa's own darling child, 

Dear papa's blessing ; ah ! she tells the truth ; 

The pretty mocking-bird with his borrowed notes 

Tells the sweet truth. Already, is she not 

Thy darling child? Thy blessing she will prove.' 

Another one with wistful longing held 
Our book, (herself a medium,) she one 
Must have we think ; her life has been not all 
She strove to have it be, but, ' nothing dies, — 
Nothing is lost or wholly perisheth 
That God hath called good, and given to man, 
Worth his immortal keeping.' Cheer up, dear 
Friend, take courage, and thus say, 'Let them go; 
Let them pass from me like a troubled dream ; 
The things of this world ; bitter apples all, 
Like those of the Dead Sea, that mock the eye 
With outward fairness, ashes at the core. 
Let this frail body perish day by day, 
And to the dust go down and be resolved 
Thereunto, — earth to earth ; but I shall live 
In spiritual identity unchanged, 
And take with me, where happy spirits dwell, 
All thoughts, desires, affections, memories, 
Sealed with the heavenly stamp, and set apart 
(Made worthy) for duration infinite.' 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 23 

We saw thee chatting for a while with one 

Whose jewelled fingers, gay attire, bespoke 

For her more time and thought bestowed upon 

The casement which enshrined the worldly mind, 

Than on that mind itself. She did possess 

Some curiosity, as did the friend 

Who had dropped in, and made an effort thee 

To quiz. 'Alas, poor maid ! an arduous task was 

Thine ; a hopeless labor, recommencing still, 

Like theirs, the unhappy sisters, doomed to pour 

Eternal streams in jars that never fill.' 

A book so ' rich in the truest wisdom ' would 

Be considered naught but trash by them, we fear ; 

If they read at all, selecting such as 

'Might shock fastidious taste, less pure than wise: 

The love of God and man, and holy nature 

Breathed like the fragrance of a precious gum 

From consecrated censer,' hallowing 

The same, their cloudy vision would not perceive. 

A third person we saw enter the room, 

And then as quickly disappear, as if — 

Well, we had no chance to read his mind, and 

Will not of him give our opinion ; we 

Will say just here instead, in a general 

Way, 'All's not well when hearts, that should be 

Open as the day, shrink from inspection.' 

We saw thee again, and we saw standing 

Near, a grief-stricken mother, so lonely 

And sad. Her treasures, alas ! from her sight 

Had fled ; ' had gone from this strange world of ours, 

No more to gather its thorns with its flowers ; 

No more to linger where sunbeams must fade ; 

Where on all beauty death's fingers are laid.' 

We fain would thee cheer, thou sorrowing one. 

Have you not heard, and read, and learned, how God 



24 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

* Tempers the wind to the shorn lamb ' ? So thine, 
Helpless and tender as they are, his eye 
Still watcheth, and his guardian care protects. 
They went in the sunshine of their bright young 
Days, in a fairer home they will expand ; 
And never like thee, kind mother, will grow 
c Weary with mingling life's bitter and sweet ; 
Weary with parting and never to meet ; 
Weary with sowing and never to reap ; 
Weary with labor and welcoming sleep.' 
We saw and read much of the deep within, 
The well of this mother's heart ; much, I mean, 
For the short space of time allotted us ; 
We think again thou 'It meet with her, and she 
In time become much changed ; if so, she will 
Say you have done it. Was it wisely done ? 
'Wisely and well, they say who look thereon 
With unimpassioned eye ; cool, clear, undimmed 
By moisture such as memory gathers oft 
In mine, while gazing on the things that are 
Not with the hallowed past, the loved, lost, 
Associated as those I now retrace 
With tender sadness.' 

The scene is changed, and 
We behold thee entering a mansion 
Fair. The grounds about are laid with care, and 
Show that flowers have in their season been reared, 
And were doubtless cherished tenderly by 
Her who welcomes thee kindly, although to 
Her thou art a stranger, — as are the truths 
She gladly would investigate, — and yet 
She scarce had dare. And why? is she not a 
Free moral agent ? Yes ; but then, she hath 
An husband ; she hath also a loving 
Spirit-friend, who reads her soul and gives 
Us the following as her sentiments : 
1 Nature in me hath still her worshipper, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 2) 

And in my soul her mighty spirit still 

Awakes sweet music, tones and symphonies 

Struck by the Master-hand from every chord. 

But prodigal of feeling she withholds 

The glorious power to pour its fulness out ; 

And in mid-song I falter, faint at heart 

With consciousness that every feeble note 

But yields to the awakening harmony 

A weak response, — a trembling echo still.' 

The husband comes, and what says he ? His talk 

Is very fine, he believes that spirits 

With mortals do communicate, that it is by 

Or through the laws of nature which at the 

Present time are little understood ; thinks 

It an established fact, and one which will 

Eventually be recognized as such 

Throughout the world. He seemingly doth say, 

'We live, God wot, in an improving age, 

And our old world, if it last long enough, 

Will reach perfection. Lo ! conceptions vast 

Germ not alone in patriot statesman's mind 

Or great philanthropist's.' What good, we pray, 

Will from these conceptions vast accrue, if 

None dare publicly acknowledge the same? 

We saw 
Upon thy brow a shade of disappointment 
When he refused our book to buy. We saw, 
Also, he gladly would have read the same, but, 
If he bought it, his wife might read it too ; 
It might do her no harm ; still, her readings 
He chose to first select, and then peruse. 

1 It is not onoe an age two hearts are set 
So well in unison that not a note 
Jars in their music ; but a skilful hand 
Slurs lightly over the discordant tones, 



26 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And wakens only the full force of those 

That sound in concord, Happy, happy those 

Who thus perform the grand concerto, — Life! 9 

Unknown to you, unknown to us the one 

You accidentally did meet upon 

The stair. We were amused at his attempt 

To place before you ? great /and little u.' 

A medium he claimed to be, but said 

The spirits all who did appear he would 

Vouchsafe to swallow ; your brave retort he 

Will not quite forget. (I replied that he 

Might swallow all that the book contained, but 

I would guarantee him that it would take 

Some time to digest the same.) He is young 

In knowledge, also in years, we trust not 

1 Past hope of e'er producing flower or bud.' 

We would advise a change right soon, lest he, 

Through his own negligence alone, be classed 

With plants full blown, that nothing lack — but roots. 

Another one of riper years we saw ; 

He seemed not lacking in intelligence, 

And had a kindly sympathetic mien ; 

We think, too, he was well read ; if asked why 

Such and such things were, if he knew he would 

You tell ; if not, acknowledge that as well ; 

Not say, like some, 'They were, because they were.' 

We would give him all credit due, while still 

We say, ? There are more things in heaven and earth 

Than are dreamt of in thy philosophy ? " 

Friends, not a book did I sell. " Well ! well ! well ! 
All 's doubtless as it should be ; were my will 
The rule of action, strange results no doubt 
Would shock the rational community. 
But farewell to the glaring world without ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 27 

The glaring, bustling, noisy, parched-up world ! 

And hail repose and verdure, turf and flowers, 

Also my home o'er whose dear quiet walls 

Brood the twin doves, Holiness and Peace." 

I must not expect ripe fruit to-day from 

Seed sown but as yesterday ; to-morrow 

And to-morrow may pass ere I perceive 

The tiny bud which first must bloom, and then 

Its petals shed, before the fruit appear. 

Then more to-morrows still must pass, yes, bright 

Sunny ones, to ripen and make fit for 

Use the fruit which may and will in time 

Be gathered home ; I must with patience wait : 

It is not all who having eyes can see, 

Or having ears can hear. This truth we learn 

From every-day experience. "How it frets 

One's soul to be associated with these 

Deaf hearers, blind beholders ! Frets one more 

That all the outward graces they possess, 

As it appears unblemished. So we're led 

To utter freely what we warmly feel ; 

And then it proves that all the wires and pipes 

That should communicate 'twixt eyes and ears 

And the indwelling soul, to empty cells 

Lead only, sending back response nor sound. 

Say with a friend we contemplate some scene 

Of natural loveliness, from which the heart 

Drinks in its fill of deep admiring joy ; 

And are our voices mute ? O, no, we turn 

(Perhaps with glistening eyes) and our full Jieart 

Pour out in rapt'rous accents, broken words 

Such as require no answer, but by speech 

As little measured, or that best reply, 

Peeling's true eloquence, a speaking look: 

But other answer awaits us ; for the friend 

(O heaven, that there are such !) with a calm smile 

Of sweet no-meaning gently answers, ' Yes, 



28 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Indeed it 's very pretty. Don't you think 
It 's getting late though ; time to go to tea ? ' 

Some folks will tell you, of all things on earth 

They most like reading ; poetry with them 

Is quite a passion ; but somehow it is, 

They never find a moment's leisure time 

For things they dote on. Wliat a life is theirs! 

There 's the new poem, — they would give the world 

To skim it over, but it cannot be ! 

That trimming must be finished for the ball. 

If you indeed, who read aloud so well, 

With so much feeling, would but take the book, 

'T would be so nice to listen ! such a treat ! 

And all the while the trimming might go on. 

You cannot have the heart to disappoint 

Wishes expressed so sweetly. Down you sit ; 

The first few pages smoothly on you go, 

Yourself delighted, and delighting much 

(So simply you believe) your hearers too. 

At length a whisper, audibly aside, 

Or cross the table, grates upon your ear, 

And brings you from the region of romance — 

1 Dear ! how provoking ! have you seen my thread ? 

No, here it is. O, pray don't stop ; go on 

With that beautiful story.' On you go, 

But scarce recover from the first rude shock, 

When lo ! a second. Deep debate ensues, 

Grave, solemn, nice, elaborate, profound,. 

About the shade of some embroidered leaf, 

Whether too dark, or. not quite dark enough, 

Or whether pea green were not after all 

Better than apple green. And there you sit 

Devoutly banning in your secret soul, 

Balls, trimmings, and your own too easy faith 

In sympathy from hearers so engrossed. 

Better leave off, you say, and close the book, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Till some more leisure morning. But at once 

All voices clamor at the barb'rous thought 

Of such adjournment ; and you recommence, 

Loath and disheartened ; but a lull succeeds 

Of seeming deep attention, and once more 

The noble song absorbs you, heart and soul. 

That part you reach where the old dog who lies 

Beside Kusilla, and, unnoticed, long 

Has eyed the dark-cowled stranger ; all at once 

(Confirmed by love's strong instinct) crawls along 

And crouches at his regal master's feet, 

And licks his hand, and gazes in his face 

? With eyes of human meaning.' There, just there, 

When trembling like a harp-string to the touch 

Of some impassioned harmonist, your voice 

Falters with strong emotion — 

1 Oh ! ' cries she, 
The passion of whose soul is poesy, 
* That dear sweet dog ! it just reminds me though 
That poor Tauton was washed two hours ago, 
And I must go and comb him, pretty love ! 
So for this morning (though it breaks my heart) 
From that dear book I tear myself away.' 
Ah, luckless reader ! wilt thou e'er again 
On such as these expend thy precious breath ? 
Inflict not on me, Stars, the killing blight 
Of such companionship. O, rather far 
Assign me for my intimate and friend 
One who says plainly, l I confess to me 
Painting's but colored canvas ; music, noise ; 
And poetry, prose spoilt ; those rural scenes 
Whereon you gaze enraptured, nothing more 
Than hill and dale and water, wooded well 
With stout oak timber, growing for the axe.' 
'Twixt such a heart and mine there must be still 
A bar, oft painfully perceived indeed, 
And never overstepped. But I could feel 



30 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Respect, affection, confidence for such, 
If dignified with sound, clear-judging sense 
And piety, that gem beyond all price, 
Whereunto compared all gifts are valueless. 

Many there are among creation's lords 
Whom Fashion wheels abroad (a listless load) ; 
Quite blind to all the wonders in their way 
Of art and nature ; with a senseless noise 
Chatt'ririg among themselves their mother-tongue 
In foreign lands, disdaining to acquire 
The useless knowledge (spiritless pursuit) 
Of a strange people's customs, arts, and speech; 
And who return with minds still unenlarged, 
And skulls as empty, to their native land. 

The stream, the mead, herb, insect, flower and leaf 

Sunbeam and shadow, all, as we have said, 

Were books to us, companionable things ; 

But lack of other volume, man's device, 

Was none, when turning from the outspread scroll 

Of beauteous nature. Sweet repose we sought 

In varied pleasure outside these ; at times 

Passionate longing grasps the ripened fruit, 

And finds it marred, a canker at the core. 

What shall we dare desire of earthly good 

The seeming greatest ; what in prayer implore 

Or deprecate, of that our secret soul 

In fondness and in weakness covets most, 

Or deepest dreads, but with the crowning clause, 

The sanctifying, ? Lord, thy will be done ' ? 

But as we read, and dream, and smile, and sigh, 

Old feelings stir within us, old delights 

Kindle afresh, and all the past comes back 

With such a rush, as to its long-dried bed 

The waters of a stream for many a year 

Pent from its natural course, back to childhood. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 31 

There is in childhood a holy ignorance, a beautiful credulity, 
a peculiar sanctity, that one cannot contemplate without some- 
thing of the reverential feeling with which one should approach 
beings of a celestial nature. The impress of the divine is, as it 
were, fresh on the infant spirit, fresh and unsullied by contact 
with this withering world. One trembles lest an impure breath 
should dim the clearness of its bright mirror. And how perpetu- 
ally must those who are in the habit of contemplating childhood, 
of studying the characters of little children, feel and repeat to 
their own hearts, ' Of such is the kingdom of heaven ' ! Ay, 
which of us, of the wisest among us, may not stoop to receive 
instruction and rebuke from the example of a little child ? 
Which of us, by comparison of its sublime simplicity, its adora- 
ble ingenuousness, has not reason to blush for the littleness, the 
degeneracy of his own ? How often has the innocent remark, 
the artless question, the natural acuteness of a child called up 
into older hearts a blush of accusing consciousness ! 

How often might the prompt, candid, unqualifying, honora- 
ble decision of an infant, in some question of right or wrong, 
shame the hesitating, calculating evasiveness of mature reason ! 
* Why do you say so if it is not true ? ' ' You must not keep that, 
for it is not yours,' ' If I do this, or that, it will make God angry/ 
are remarks we have heard from the lips of babes and suck- 
lings ; the first in particular, that probing question, to the no 
small embarrassment of some who should have leen their teach- 
ers! 

The world of a child's imagination is the creation of a far ho- 
lier spell than hath ever been wrought by the pride of learning, 
or the inspiration of poetic fancy. Innocence that thinketh no 
evil, ignorance that apprehendeth none; hope that hath expe- 
rienced no blight ; love that suspecteth no guile, — these are its 
ministering angels, these wield a wand of power, making this 
earth a paradise. Time, hard, rigid teacher ; reality, rough, stern 
reality ; world, cold, heartless world ; that ever your sad experi- 
ence, your sombre truths, your killing cold, your writhing sneers, 
should scare those gentle spirits from their holy temple ! And 
wherewith do ye replace them ? With caution, that repulseth 
confidence; with doubt, that repelleth love; with reason, that 
dispelleth illusion; with fear, that poisoneth enjoyment; in a 



32 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

word, with knowledge, that fatal fruit, the tasting whereof, at the 
first onset, cost us Paradise ! And the tree of knowledge, — 
transplanted to this barren soil, together with its scanty blos- 
soms, — doth it not bring thorns abundantly ? And of the fruits 
that ripen, have any yet ripened to perfection ? What hand hath 
ever plucked unscathed f 

The child enjoys everything that is, abstractedly from all refer- 
ence to the past, all inquiry into the future. He feels that he is 
happy, and satisfied with that blest perception, searches not into 
the nature or probable duration of his felicity. 

There may be, there are in after life intervals of far sublimer 
happiness; for if thought, if 'knowledge' bringeth a curse with 
it, casting as it were the taint of corruption and the shadow of 
death over all that in this world seemed fair and good and lasting 
and perfect, reason, enlightened by revelation and sustained by 
faith, hath power to lift up that gloomy veil, and to see beyond it 
' the glory which shall be revealed hereafter.' But with the excep- 
tions of such times, when the heart communes with heaven, when 
our thoughts are in a manner like the angels ascending and de- 
scending on those bright beams of celestial intercourse, what feel- 
ings of the human mind can be thought so nearly to resemble 
those of the yet guiltless inhabitants of Eden, as the sensations 
of a young and happy child ? " 

What hand indeed, upon this mundane sphere, 

Hath ever plucked unscathed the fruits of knowledge ? 

Our life below is far too short for that ; 

We may reach forth our hand and gather 

From the tree those which to look upon are 

Very fair ; but alas ! they are unripe, so 

Hard we dare not even taste. Again, we 

May some windfalls find upon the ground. They 

Have reached the highest state of perfection 

Possible to them, and really have 

A pleasant flavor ; they will not harm us, 

But will, instead, give us a foretaste of 

What shall come afterward ; and such, we feel, 

Is life on earth ; must it be always thus ? 

As we grow wiser will our sorrows also 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 33 

Increase in like proportion to the same ? 
When thoughts like these arise, permitted tests 
Proving our frailty, and thy mercy, Lord, 
Let but thy minist'ring angel draw our eyes 
To nature's book, and lo ! this troublous world 
Fades from before us like a morning mist, 
And in a spirit not our own, we cry, 
" Perish all knowledge but what leads to Thee! " 

I Ve been a dreamer all my life, but now, 

Alas ! the dream has fled ; a whirlwind came, 

And I alone escaped. The bower which Hope 

Had built may grow and thrive in yon bright sphere, 

A kindly shelter prove ; but not here, no, 

Not here ! " 'Tis ever thus, 'tis ever thus 

With beams of mortal bliss, with things too bright 

And beautiful for such a world as this ; 

One moment round about us their angel 

Lightnings play, then, down the veil of darkness 

Drops, and all hath passed away. Let it fall, 

That blessed veil which shuts the future out ; 

The earthly future — but beyond, away 

With dread and doubt ! " Have I dread ? have I doubt ? 

Nay, neither. In trying hours like these, my 

Weary spirit longs to take its flight. I 

Feel that I have drank enough of life ; the 

Cup assigned to me contains but little 

Sweet at best. Then come, " O death ! — come quietly, 

Come lovingly, and shut mine eyes and steal 

My breath ! Then willingly, oh ! willingly 

With thee I '11 go away." Mine earthly friends 

May not be near, — what matters it ? Angels 

I know will me attend, — angels as pure 

As their own bright homes ; my poor lone heart clings 

Lovingly to these, with all its finest 

Tendrils, with all its flexile rings ; I long 

To hear the music of the heavenly spheres, 



34 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

From harps attuned only to notes of love 
And tenderness, from lips whose cadence breathes 
Sweet harmony and peace. Alas ! that these 
Should be " sounds too sweet for earth " ! 

Beautiful, 
Beautiful sky ! I would thy splendor here 
I might trace ! The day a dark and gloomy 
One has been ; the sun shone not until 
Its closing hour, when suddenly its bright 
And golden beams dispelled the weariness 
And gloom. The heavens no mundane artist could 
Portray, just as the sun his farewell to 
The earth vouchsafed. Spanning a portion of 
The low horizon, clouds — if such, indeed, 
They could be called — assumed alternate hues 
Of crimson, orange, golden ; then came a 
Belt of clear blue sky ; above this same a 
Crimson shade again appears, submerged at 
Intervals with hues less deep, more golden 
Bright, streaming high, softly blending with the 
Azure overhead. A little distance 
At the right of these, a huge and shapeless 
Mass of clouds, commingling all the colors 
Here portrayed, nor leaving out the truthful 
Blue, presents to our admiring eye a 
Soft, not deep, purple, — type of royalty. 

I could not write ; my gaze was fixed ; while I, 
Unconscious, "tranced in waking dreams," led on 
By impulse not mine own. How bright, and yet 
How brief, the interval vouchsafed ! Methought 
It was a type of life ; of some one's life, 
It might be mine, I could not say. Thus far 
I felt its day had been o'erspread with clouds. 
Would my life's day on earth as brightly close ? 
Should I behold the glorious home above, 
While yet my spirit lingered here ? If so, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 35 

My Lord, I ask no more ; it is the dearest 

Boon I crave. I may still dream, but not as 

Heretofore ; for stealing o'er my soul I 

Feel e'en now the soft, warm breath of purer air ; 

While voices low and sweet unto my soul 

Are murmuring, " Thy heart shall yet be satisfied ; 

Thy visions all come true : we say not when, 

We say not where." 

Ah ! spirits kind, I ask 
Ye not to tell ; I only ask your warm 
And loving sympathy, your aid in all 
My labors here ; my life-work too, if thou 
Wilt consecrate. O, then, indeed, I shall 
Be " satisfied " ; and there also my " visions 
All come true " ; but not here, nay, not here. 

One 
Lesson more the clouds and sky enforced ; 't was 
This : The rolling, tumbling mass of purple 
Hue (royalty) was fast to disappear. 
It seemed to go not willingly, but plunged 
About, assumed at length the blackness of 
Despair, and angrily, trembling with fear, 
Gave up the ghost. The dazzling brightness of 
The sun had given place to softer shades 
Of mellow light ; these, too, soon disappeared, 
And all the sky, above, below, around, 
Was — blue. Emblem of truth, thy reign shall come ! 
After a little space of time, the stars 
Come twinkling forth ; the lesser lights which hold 
Their sway until the dawn of morrow's sun 
Doth lighten, brighten all the earth again. 

"O sun of righteousness divine, 
On me with beams of mercy shine ; 
Chase the dark clouds of sin away, 
And turn my darkness into day. 
As every day thy mercy spares 



£6 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Will bring its trials and its cares, 
O Saviour, till my life shall end, 
Be thou my counsellor and friend ; 
Teach me thy precepts, all divine, 
And be thy pure example mine ! " 



Nor mine 



Alone ; indeed that could not be, for all 
Who will, may to thee come ; thou wilt not "break 
The bruised reed," nor wilt thou search the wounds 
That bleed, but only wound to heal, 'T is easy 
Quite to say these things ; but oh ! to live and 
Feel yourself a bruised reed, made such by 
Cruel scorn, contempt, and pride of so-called 
Friends ! (Not all, thank God ! have thus repaid our 
Love for them, and all the human race as 
Well.) And yet we love them still, knowing that 
"It is not love that steals the heart from love; 
'T is the hard world, and its perplexing cares ; 
Its petrifying selfishness, its pride, 
Its low ambitions, and its petty aims. 
c A friend loveth at all times ' : so ye, if 
Friends, will still love me ; not only through f good 
Eeport,' but through * evil,' especially 
When its falsehood you more than divine. 
Never tell me of loving by measure 
And weight ; love cannot be bought, it cannot 
Be sold. ? If yours can, let them have it who 
Care : it 's a great deal too common for me. 
You must love, — not my faults, — but in spite 
, Of them, me, under all change of circumstance 
Too : apart or together, in crowds, or — in 
Short, you must love me, because Hove you.'" 

" How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in 
my heart daily ? How long shall mine enemy be exalted oyer 
me?" 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 37 

" I go not like one in the strength of youth, 

Who hopes, though the passing cloud may pour down 

Its icy hail amain, that summer and 

Sunshine may break out again the brighter 

From sorrow's shroud. An April morn and a 

Clouded day my portion of life hath been ; 

Yet, would I change, if the power were mine, 

One tittle decreed by the will divine ? 

O, no, not a thousandth part. In my 

Blindness I've wished, in my feebleness wept, 

With a weak, weak woman's wail, but humbling 

My heart and its hopes in the dust (all its 

Hopes that are earthly) , I 've anchored my trust 

On the strength that never can fail" 

O, give 
Me then each day enough to make mine own — 
So weak, alas ! — endure for present needs, — 
A little while, — a little Way, — and I 
Shall rest at home, no more to know or heed 
The world's contempt and scorn, no more to feel 
That "hope deferred maketh the heart sick." The 
Time is past " when life was joy, the fair earth 
Paradise " ; although I still its green glades 
Love, with an exceeding love ; I love, too, 
" To hold communion with the stirring air, 
The breath of flowers, the ever-shifting clouds, 
The rustling leaves, the music of the stream, 
To people solitude with airy shapes, 
And the dark hour, when night and silence reign, 
With immaterial forms of other worlds : 
But best and noblest privilege, to feel 
Pervading nature's all -harmonious whole, 
The great Creator's presence, in his works." 

" How swift is a glance of the mind ! " When I 
Think of my native land, in a moment 
I seem to be there. A moment since and 



38 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I was calm and cold, — cold as this world is 
To me ; now the warm blood through every 
Throbbing vein fast hurrying, mantles over 
Cheek and brow, like youth and hope rekindling, 
Ebbing now to the full heart again ; leaving 
A paler cheek, a glistening eye with watery 
Gaze fixed fast on visions of the past ; 
■ O, where am I? At home, — at home again 
In mine own land ; its mountain streams are 
Murm'ring in mine ear, and thrilling voices 
From loved lips I hear. There — there the loving 
Band : mine own long lost, oh ! take the weary 
One, to weep on some dear breast this agony 
To rest, — on thine, my friend ! Thou answerest 
Not ; none answer me ; that cry was from mine 
Own sad heart. And are they gone ? Nay, I am 
Gone, — gone from my native land. Do friends mine 
Absence mourn, or sigh for my return? Not 
So ; methinks they rather do rejoice at 
My protracted stay. Had they this body 
Frail, consigned to its last resting-place, no 
Lack of tears, no lack of flowers to scatter 
O'er the bier, to strew around the tomb, which 
After all did but contain the mortal 
Flesh inanimate, useless, worthless quite ! 
Ah, friends, at such a time weep not for me ! 
Rejoice rather for and with «ne. If in 
Thy hearts one spark of love or sympathy 
Thou hast, revive it now, and let me feel 
Its genial warmth I pray, while yet I sojourn 
Here. When I from earth have passed away, I 
Fear ye will not, even then, your hearts upraise 
To meet mine own ; but there 't will matter not 
So much as here with me ; mine own I know 
Will meet and love me there : their spirit-forms 
Mine eyes shall see, their loving arms will me 
Enfold ; the music of their voices sweet 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 39 

Will charm mine ear ; what now seems misty, there 

Will be so tangible and real. Then chide 

Me not if I do ask you, here and now, 

To give the love deep-pent within your hearts. 

This clayey tenement treat kindly for 

The spirit's sake, so long as it the spirit 

Doth enshrine ; when that departs, I crave not 

For the empty barren casket one tear, 

One sigh from thee ; let it return to mother 

Earth from whence it came ; there, tranquilly 

Repose. 

" O, for a sound of life from a 
Single living thing ! " The cloud of my spirit 
Doth dwell on beautiful things to-day ; yet 
I cannot be glad ; the sound of my breath 
In this stillness deep, distresses me sore. 
My heart is not sullen, though sad ; for your 
Silence, dear friends, seems very unkind ; and 
I — so lonely — must I still live lingering on, 
Like a trampled passion-flower, torn from its 
Parent stem ? must I still keep suffering 
On, like a martyr, writing the while, and 
You in silent sweetness remain, as if 
Fearing to " waste your fragrance on the desert 
Air " ? Have ye naught to say the spell to break ? 
I would have you make no kindly pretence, 
For flattering words more pain than pleasure 
Would give ; a loving rebuke in frankness 
Given would be more graciously received. 
One word of sweet encouragement from thee, 
Would vibrate tenderly on weary heart-strings 
Now trailing low, wayworn with earthly strife ; 
But if in me thou 'It not confide, I have 
Of thee one more request to make ; 't is this : 
That when on bended knee, with heart upraised, 
Thou dost for thee and thine a blessing crave, 
" Forget not me " ; invoke a blessing on 



40 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

My labors too, that I may deck a holier 
Shrine, sip from a purer fountain, yielding 
Waters more divine ! 

" Silent friends, fare ye well ! 
Shadows, adieu ! living friends long I've lost, 
Now I lose you. Bitter tears, many I 've shed, — 
None saw them flow ; dreary hours, many I've sped 
Unknown to you " ; yet in my loneliness — 
Kindly, methought — some still felt toward me, 
Mocking me not with light speech and hollow words, 
Grating sore the sad heart, with many ills 
Sick to the core ; then, if my clouded skies 
Brightened awhile, seemed your soft, serious eyes 
Almost to smile ; making me feel not quite 
Alone, not quite companionless. 

Spirit friends ! 
Ye read and replied to my questioning thought. 
" Daughter," ye softly said, " peace to thine heart ! 
We too — yes, daughter ! — have been as thou art, — 
Tossed on the troubled waves, life's stormy sea ; 
Chance and change manifold proving like thee, 
Hope-lifted, doubt-depressed, seeing in part, 
Tried, troubled, tempted, sustained, as thou art. 
Our God is thy God ; what He wills is best ; 
Trust him as we trusted : then — rest as we rest." 
" Silent friends ! fare ye well ! Shadows ! adieu. 
One friend abideth still, all changes through." 

ff There was a time — sweet time of youthful folly — 
Fantastic woes I coveted, feigned distress, 
Wooing the veiled phantom, Melancholy, 
When heaved the light heart that knew no real pain. 
But I have lived to feign the smile of gladness, 
When all below seemed cheerless, dark, and cold, 
When all earth's joys were mockery and madness, 
And life more tedious than a 'tale twice told.' 
And now — and now — pale, pining Melancholy ! 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 41 

No longer veil for me your haggard brow 
In pensive sweetness, such as youthful folly 
Fondly conceited ; I abjure ye now ! 
Away ! a vaunt ! no longer now I call ye, 
' Divinest Melancholy ! mild, meek maid ' ; 
No longer may your siren spells enthrall me, 
A willing captive in your baleful shade ; 
No longer feigned distress, fantastic woe ! 
But for the stricken, the spirit broken, 
There 's balm in Gilead still ; the very rod, 
If we kiss it as the stroke descendeth, 
Distilleth oil t' allay the inflicted smart ; 
I know my griefs ; but then my consolation, 
My trust, and my immortal hopes I know. 
The Christian strife can finish but with finished 
Life (below) ; the spirit may be all resigned, 
Yet inly bleed. The willing mind, too, oft 
May faint, the hopeful eye sink rayless in 
Despondency." Love 's sunshine melting not 
To tears the drifted sorrows of the heart ; 
But " in that region of artistic splendor, 
Where the angel faces look so tender, 
Human weakness needeth no defender ; 
In the perfect light of the heavenly city, 
Souls can read the law of life aright. 
O, when the circle made complete, shall in 
Thy boundless being meet, we feel, we know 
That we shall be made perfect in our love 
To thee, holy Father, that good will triumph 
In that hour, and weakness be exchanged for 
Power." 

Rest, weary spirit, from thy labors 
Rest ; thy doubts, thy wrongs, thy painful wanderings ! 
Dread memories are these, embalmed with tears, 
From which I turn with sick'ning sigh. Retrace 
Not thou the past ; look up, look up, my soul, 
To loftier mysteries ! Seek out the isles 



42 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Of light, where not a passing cloud obscures 
The sunny scene. Trust in his word to thee 
Who saith, "All tears shall be wiped from all eyes." 
And O, my soul ! judge not again at a 
Single glance, nor pass sentence hastily; 
There are many good things in this world of 
Ours, — many sweet things and rare ! weeds that 
Prove precious flowers, little dreamt of by thee. 
Yea, human flowers, that a common observer 
Passeth by with a scornful lip and a 
Careless eye, in the heyday of pleasure 
And pride. Look about, up and down, but take 
Care ! do not crush the seeming unlovely 
Flower, for, in truth, there 's beauty in it ; 
Remove it to some quiet spot, from the 
Mid-day sun's broad glare, where domestic peace 
Broods with dove-like wing, and try if the 
Homely, despised thing may not yield sweet 
Fragrance there. All's not gold that glitters, you 
Know ; and it is not all worth, that makes the 
Greatest show in the glare of the strongest 
Light. 

Who that hath examined the lovely 
And modest violet with care, can pass 
It rudely by ? Its pencilled markings so 
Exquisitely drawn, its royal shadings 
Blending so sweetly; and then, its delicate, 
Rare perfume ; it thrives and blooms almost che 
Livelong year ; the summer's heat disturbs it 
Not ; the winter's chill may for a time its 
Blossoms check, but oft we 've seen in early 
Spring, its verdure bright above the snowy 
Mantled earth appear, and buds lain dormant 
Ope to the mild breath of April morn. We 
Have, too, observed that this lowly flower is 
Not easily crushed, or, {/'crushed, even 
To the earth, will rise and bloom again for 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 43 

Those who trampled on and nearly did its 
Life crush out. O, blest indeed the Human 
Flower whose heart doth so rebound with love 
To those who break or wound, but never heal ! 
To such as these methinks Leigh Hunt 's beautiful 
Allegory will apply. You have doubtless 
Read it many a time ; so have I, but 
Never tire, and so will here it insert. 

" Abou Ben Adham — may his tribe increase — 
Awoke one night from a dream of peace, 
And saw, within the moonlight in his room 
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, 
An angel writing in a book of gold. 
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adham bold, 
And to the presence in his room he said, 
' What writest thou ? ' The vision raised his head, 
And with a look made all of sweet accord, 
Answered, f The names of those who love the Lord.' 
'And is mine one?' said Abou. 'Nay, not so,' 
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, 
But cheerily still, and said, r I pray thee, then, 
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.' 

The angel wrote and vanished. The next night 

It came again with a great wakening light, 

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, 

And, lo ! Ben Adham's name led all the rest." 

These same little violets, so modest 

And sweet, thrive not so well in the sun 's hot 

Rays as in some quiet sheltered nook ; they bear 

Far better the chill, searching winds and moisture 

Therewith, than the sun's scorching heat. Roses 

Have we, and other flowers gay, which thrive 

Not at all in a cold ungenial shade ; 

They love the light, and it must have or cease 



44 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

To bloom ; e'en then our roses queenly and 
Fair, many an one, do only give their 
Blossoms sweet, one month in the year ; short-lived 
Are they, yet beautiful in their time. When we 
Roam from flower to flower, we know not which we 
Love the best ; we love, yea, dearly love them 
All ! No rose, 'tis said, without its thorn. This 
May be true ; — but when they say a serpent 
Lurks our sweetest flowers among, believe them 
Not. Think, rather, that an angel face looks 
Out from each, although our vision dim discern 
It not ; no doubt have we that each and all — 
The very least of us — have guardian angels 
Us assigned by Him who notes the sparrow 
Fall. They 're flitting near, all around us and 
Above, on missions of kindness, compassion, 
And love. They smile when we 're happy and 
Good : are less distressed at our weaknesses, 
Failings, and fears than are we, who so little 
Of the future may know ; they care for the 
Least of our innocent joys, and if we but 
Heed and trust to their care, will lead us to 
Bloom-beds, bright, lovely ones too, where serpents 
Harm not, and thorns never grow ; where the 
Net-work of life flows smoothly on, its meshes 
All evenly set, its threads so fine, seeming 
Not to have beginning or end, so deftly 
Hid. We oft have felt our life below were 
At the best a tangled web, an instrument 
Whose keys had ne'er been found in tune. O, 
In that happy sphere above, may we not 
Hope the tangled threads will all come straight ? our 
Hearts be all attuned to love and truth, the 
Master-keys of Heaven ? We 've heard that little 
Infants converse by smiles and signs with the 
Guardian band of angels that round about 
Them shine, unseen by grosser senses. How 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 45 

Beautiful the thought ! 'twill be renewed too. 
Thy childhood heart may receive the same 
Angelic wisdom ; in after years as 
Well as now, thou mayst thy thoughts and smiles 
Bestow upon thy heavenly friends, with them 
Commune. To some this may a simple fancy 
Seem, — we deem it wise and true. Precious babes, 
What ministry like love unhired ? O Earth ! 
Earth ! Earth ! when will your sons become " wise as 
Serpents, harmless as doves" ? When will they learn 
True wisdom, and in singleness of heart 
Be willing that even " a little child 
Shall lead them"? 

" Lord, my G-od ! if I have done this ! " 
" Help, Lord ! for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail 
from among the children of men." 

Silent friends, — but wait, are ye friends? ye surely 

Are not silent ones ; would to God ye were, 

For your own souls' good ! Toward me only were 

Ye silent. My heart and my strength failed me. 

" My harp also was turned to mourning, and 

My organ into the voice of them that weep." 

The days went by, I could not write, — why? My 

Very heart's blood was congealed by your icy 

Coldness ; the sun refused its warm and genial 

Kays to lend, to melt away the frozen 

Tears which dimmed my eyes as well. Should I, or 

Could I if I would, distil its chilling 

Breath? Nay, I could not if I would, nor would 

I if I could. Methought to wait for brighter 

Days to come, e'er I my thoughts poured forth 

Again : I waited long, and then — My God ! 

My God ! Who hath done this ? Have mercy ! 

Have mercy ! 



46 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

" Save me, God, for the waters are come in unto my 
soul." 

" Plead my cause, Lord, with them that strive with me." 

" Make haste, God, to deliver me ; make haste to help me, 
Lord." 

" For it was not an enemy that reproached me ; then I could 
have borne it : neither was it he that hated me that did magnify 
himself against me ; then I would have hid myself from him : 

But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine ac- 
quaintance. 

We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of 
God in company." 

" Lord, how long wilt thou look on ? Rescue my soul," I be- 
seech thee. 

" For they speak not peace : but they devise deceitful matters 
against them that are quiet in the land." But as for me, " I be- 
haved myself as though he had been my friend or brother : when 
they were sick I humbled my soul with fasting ; and my prayer 
returned unto mine own bosom." 

" Have mercy upon me, Lord, for I am in trouble ; my life is 
spent with grief." 

"I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially 
among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance." 

" For I have heard the slander of many." 

"When my father and my mother forsake me," then wilt thou, 

Lord, " take me up " ? 

" Because for thy sake I have borne reproach ; I am become a 
stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's chil- 
dren." 

u They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of 
mine head." Hear me, Lord. 

" Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink : let me be 
delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. 

Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swal- 
low me up. 

Hear me, Lord, and hide not thy face from thy servant ; for 

1 am in trouble : hear me speedily. 

Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it : deliver me because of 
mine enemies. 
Keproach hath broken my heart ; and I am full of heaviness : 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 47 

and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none ; and for 
comforters, but I found none." 

"The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded 
spirit who can hear ? " 

Ah ! One hath borne, one alone 
Of earth-born sons hath borne, suffered, yea, 
Conquered, all below. He feels, he Jcnoios it 
All. In agony, he wept and prayed for — 
Whom ? For those who knew not what they did. O 
Jesu ! meek and mild, teach us to pray ! to 
Love as thou hast loved ! Think ye, dear friends, his 
Agonizing tears and prayers were caused by 
Suff 'rings bodily ? or by a contemplation 
Of the same ? Hear ye his words : " Thinkest thou 
That I cannot now pray to my Father, 
And he shall presently give me more than 
Twelve legions of angels ? " 

" Behold, the time cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be 
scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone : and 
yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." 

Believed they this ? Nay, not one of all the 
Twelve believed ; not one could comprehend his 
Words, when he said unto them — 

" All ye shall be offended because of me this night : for it is 
written I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall 
be scattered abroad. 

Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be 
offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. 

Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, 
before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 

Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I 
not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples." 

Alas for frail 
Human nature ! Gethsemane, thou garden 
Fair. If thou couldst speak, how much ye might 



48 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Reveal : how much of mental sorrow, combined 

With anguished love, record ! 'T was here, alone 

He prayed, while his companions slept ; yea, those 

Very ones who had their constancy proclaimed 

In tones so strong ! To them the Master said, 

"My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 

Unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with 

Me." He bowed his face unto the earth in 

Agony too deep for utterance : when he 

Arose his watchers slept. How mildly he 

Them chides with words which tell the secret grief 

Within : " Could ye not watch with me one hour?" 

And then, as if to remove even the 

Shadow of a reproach, he adds : " The spirit 

Truly is willing, but the Jlesh is weak." 

He asks them not again to watch ; twice more 

Alone he prays, saying, 

" my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I 
drink it, thy will be done. 

And then appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strength- 
ening him." 

Then turning to his silent friends he saith, " Sleep on now and 
take your rest." 

Again he saith, " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them 
also which shall believe on me through their word. 

That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in 
thee, that they also may be one in us. 

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
one ; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and 
hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 

I have given them thy word ; and the world hath hated them, 
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the 
world. 

I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but 
that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." 

To his disciples he saith, " These things have I spoken unto 
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have 
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 49 

My Lord and my God ! 
Wilt thou keep me from the evil ? Although in 
The world I still have tribulation, may I in 
Thee have peace ! I cannot now, I dare not 
Hope to ever in earth-life say, — 

" The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places." Yet I will 
love thee, O Lord, my strength. 

" Thou tellest my wanderings : put thou my tears into thy bottle : 
are they not in thy book ? 

When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back : this 
I know, for God is for me." 

" How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, God ! how 
great is the sum of them ! They are more in number than the 
sand." 

" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn- 
ing." Therefore " will I call upon God ; and the Lord shall save 
me ; evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud ; 
and he shall hear my voice." 



He shall deliver my soul in peace from 
The battle that is against me : for there are many 
With me, yea, many. Ask ye who they are ? 
From whence they come ? They are a white-robed, 
Happy band, who once did toil as I do 
Here : I knew them well. They come from that 
Celestial sphere where I hope soon (God willing) 
Togo. What come they for ? God's messengers 
Are they to me, bearing sweet words of hope, 
Encouragement, and love. What say they to 
Me? "You strive to conquer," saith one ; another, 
" You will not always row against the tide " ; 
And still another, "You will yet see the 
Purpose of all you are passing through." I 
Might go on at length, but this must now suffice. 
As for me, blessed Lord, I shall be satisfied 
"When I awake with thy likeness." 



50 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

O Lord, 
How good thou art ! Not only hast thou 
Given me communings with the angel 
World, but hast also vouchsafed me tidings 
From afar, from earth-friends dear, as these 
Letters three denote. "O my heart ! is all 
Indeed so changed ? or art thou the changeling, 
Sore aweary now at times of all beneath 
The sun?" Precious letters ! penned by loving 
Hands. Abundant proof ye bring, that e'en on 
This terrestrial sphere are living hearts 
And loving ones, that still remember me. 
The first is from a mind advanced, though still 
In years a youth. Development to him 
Has come through sad experience of mind 
And heart. To use his own language, — 

" I started in life with as high an aspiration as a man could 
have ; with a desire to do right, and to live up to right and truth, 
in all things that constitute true manhood in all the relations of 
life. This, from the inmost recess of my soul, I now believe to be 
impossible. Do not think that I am faint-hearted ; to me fear is 
unknown ; but the utter worthlessness of men has led me to al- 
most despise my race. Men's interests are opposed to truth and 
right, in every relation in life ; and when we are brought in con- 
tact with them, the result is, they endeavor to constrain and crush 
us. Therefore, had we not better give up the struggle and float 
with the tide ? 

If I should preach what I believe to be truth, I should be com- 
pletely estranged from society (I almost hate the word). What 
can one do, unless one become completely independent of the 
world ? If I had only gone with the tide, my life would have been 
so much more happy ! I might have become (as a reverend gen- 
tleman expressed it) ' a light in society, an ornament in the church, 
and a defender of the faith.' And instead what? Denounced 
publicly from the pulpit as a most ' dangerous infidel, who would 
almost shake the faith of an apostle ' ; shunned by many who are 
afraid of despoiling their garments by coming in contact with me. 
This is the fate of such as me; and I repeat, is it worth the cost 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 51 

to continue the struggle ? If we do, just as sure as we live, we 
shall keep drifting farther away from the world's opinions. Bo 
you imagine all have reached the omega of our knowledge ? No, 
not by any means; we are only just started on the road that leads 
— where, can you tell ? I am in a kind of troubled doubt and 
uncertainty as regards many things. Duty and the future lead 
me one way, while the experience I have undergone points me to 
the doctrine of Darwin, of, the 'survival of the fittest.' In all of 
life and its relations, the first points to a glorious future, that will 
atone for all the trials of life. The latter chains me down to the 
fearful doctrine of materialism. The first says, Do your duty 
fearlessly, no ?natter what comes or goes ; while the latter says, 
Do the best you can, only for yourself. Do you see the fearful 
difference between the two doctrines ? " 

Yes, brother, I see, comprehend in part, not all. The first, as 
regards duty, with the glorious future awaiting the performance 
of the same, I believe to be an established fact, as beautiful as it 
is true ; and let me ask what higher incentive there can be to " do 
your duty fearlessly, no matter what comes or goes," than this ? 
As to the materialistic views, I confess to a blissful ignorance, so 
far as my own experience is concerned. If yours is a true repre- 
sentation of the same, I hope and pray that it is only pointed out 
to you as a dangerous path, wherein if you walk the " result and 
the end " will be more difficult to determine than the first-named 
one, of duty and truth. 

O brother, beware ! tamper not with these, 

Nor suffer your mind to be in a "strait 

Betwixt two " ; your better judgment I am 

Sure will incline to the first, although, as 

You say, 'tis easier far to float with the 

Tide. The road to destruction hath ever 

Been broad, and many there are who walk 

Therein ; while " straight and narrow " the path which 

Leads to Heaven and God ; though few as yet 

Have followed the same. But what, my dear friend, 

Would be the result if these same few were 

All to turn back and " float with the tide " ? 

And what saith the Scripture of him who "putteth 



52 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

His hand to the plough " and looks back ? A bad 

Promise, we know, is "better broken than kept" ; 

Not so a good one ; 'tis better to not 

Yow, than to vow and not pay. We have, as 

You say, but started on the road that leads — 

You ask where ? Doth echo answer, Where ? Nay, 

Brother ; an angel whispers in mine ear, 

" To the tree of life." If we indeed a 

Gift possess, vouchsafed but only to the 

Few, O let us cultivate the same, and 

May the fruit it doth produce bear evidence 

That we of no "false gift" make boast, which same 

Is like " clouds and wind without rain " unto 

A parched and barren soil. The waves are dashing 

High about us now : the tide we row against 

Is strong : the waters almost overflow 

Our frail and slender bark ; yet One hath said, 

"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further ; 

And here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 

Then let us hope the tide will soon begin 

To fall, the sea of life will grow more calm. 

There' s one thing more I wish to say ; wert thou 

A "scorner," I it should leave unsaid, lest 

Thou me "hate" ; I know thy wisdom doth mine 

Own exceed in many things, perhaps in 

This ; yet I have sometimes feared thy fellow 

Men did scarce from thee justice receive ; 

Justice of thought I mean, as regards their 

Purposes and intents ; in other words, 

That thou wert lacking in that " charity 

Which covereth a multidude of sins." 

Many, and I believe the majority 

Of our race, sin thoughtlessly, and more 

Through ignorance, than from an evil 

Purpose at heart. Another thought still suggests 

Itself to my mind, in regard to "drifting 

Away from the world's opinions " ; may we 



THE UXSEALED BOOK. 53 

Not in this even, go too fast and too 
Far, turning the blessing into a curse, 
By thinking only of ourselves, instead 
Of lending a helping hand to brethren 
And sisters who are still weak in the faith ? 
If we to these can impart the knowledge 
Attained by us through sorrows deep, through 
Trials sore, will they not escape in part, 
At least, the quicksands from which we escaped 
But with life ? and may we not count on a 
Blessing ourselves ? for " he that watereth 
Shall be watered also himself." We must 
Bear in mind that " the tongue of the just is 
As choice silver " ; and that " the lips of the 
Eighteous feed many." If we from higher ours 
Receive, methinks we must to lower give what 
They unto our souls transmit. We are not 
Alone in the struggle, although at times it 
May so seem ; and many I know who are to 
Us dear, have no desire to follow or 
By us be led ; others there are, less dear 
To ourselves it may be, whose souls do hunger 
And thirst for this meat and drink. "There are 
WTiom in our daily path we greet coldly 
Familiar, ev'n so to meet, mind to mind 
Stranger : while a moment's space, mystical 
Interchange of tone or look, binds us to 
Others in strong sympathy, fast and 
Forever." 

I trust, dear brother, that you will not take offence at my plain- 
ness of speech. My heart's desire and prayer, for you and for all 
who are workers with us in the cause, is, that ye "feed the flock 
of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by 
constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. 
Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to 
the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall 
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 



54 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



Extract from Letter No. 2. 

"We received your book Christmas day, for which many 
thanks. In regard to the work, I am surprised that you have 
been able to so clearly express your views on this peculiar subject; 
I hardly think any one, after reading it, will question your sincer- 
ity in regard to the same. Aside from the subject in question, 
think you have made some pretty good hits. I am afraid the book 
will not be a pecuniary success for many reasons, the most con- 
spicuous one, your ideas of free love, matrimony, etc. You, nor 
I, nor the next generation, will live to see the world governed by 
love to such an extent that we shall need no laws in regard to 
matrimony. You are older than I am ; but if you had seen and 
known as much, even, as I have, of the hidden lives of some men 
and women who are considered upright and honorable, I am sure 
you would very materially change your views. 

You no doubt will think it strange that I should know of so 

much that is bad. The four years that I was in were very 

pleasant ones to me in some respects, but I learned to almost 
think virtue was a thing of the past. But enough of this ; and 
please remember that, however much I may differ from you in 
opinion, I shall always love you, and shall never think you will do 
aught but what you believe to be right" 

We are very glad this letter was written, as it gives us an 
opportunity of correcting some little " misunderstoods." 

The first error which we note is one that we foresaw and men- 
tioned in the beginning of this book, namely, — giving all the 
credit, or discredit, as the case might be, to the instrument 
through which the same was transmitted. 

As to the " pecuniary success " of the book, it was written with 
no such purpose or intent ; had there been no higher aim in view, 
it would never have been before the public. 

A reverend brother of ours, who has been for years a zealous 
worker in the cause, informs us that though several thousand 
copies of a work which he published have been sold, he has not 
made a dollar from it yet, at the same time is accused of doing it 
to make money. 

Next, we find " your ideas of free love, matrimony, etc." We 
will take the first, giving a quotation from the book (" Misun- 
derstood") concerning the same: — 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 55 

" There never has been, there never can be, 

A love upon earth, a love in the sky, 
Other than this, — a love which is free I 

Love is unlike every other thing, 
You cannot control it by force of will, 

Nor can you by force the sentiment bring. 
It must be spontaneous, it must be free, 

Else it is not love." 

This assertion is true, and we shall it maintain ; against love 
there is no law, neither can there be, for " God is love " and love 
is born of God. 

Eegarding matrimony, we claim it must be based upon love 
alone, to be sanctioned by the great All- Wise; anything short of 
this is adultery in the eyes of Him who " looketh upon the 
heart." As to when the world should be so ruled by love that we 
should need no laws in this respect, we did not pretend to fix the 
date, although the answer will be found in the following quota- 
tion from said book : — 

" ' God and not woman is the head of all ' ; 
Tor thy Maker is thine husband ' ; 
When all have learned to recognize this truth, 
The true marriage will have been established ; 
When he that is married careth more for 
The things • that belong to the Lord ' than for those 
Which belong to his wife, and when the wife 
Careth more for the things which ' please the Lord * 
Than for the things which may please her husband, 
When both become ' holy in body and in spirit,' 
These things will strengthen the bond ; 
They will need no law to bind them to it." 

When this time does arrive, as we have said, people will be a 
"law unto themselves," not only in this respect, but in all re- 
spects. " The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the law- 
less and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners." That 
the world contains many such, and doubtless will do so for gen- 
erations to come, who can only be kept in check by law, we do not 
pretend to deny ; we have, however, endeavored to make it plain 
to you that it is not free love, or any other love, which makes 
the law a necessity, but lust, which ye yourselves make free, 
and then endeavor to confound with it ; (they will no more mix 



56 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

than will oil and water.) Not satisfied with this, you strive to 
" wash your hands " clear of the whole matter by casting it as a 
reproach upon Spiritualism ; linking them together in your con- 
versation as if they " twain were one flesh," when in reality 
Spiritualism is no more closely allied to these things than is any 
other sect or ism. A celebrated clergyman thus writes of Spir- 
itualism: " Many suppose it gives license to the animal part of 
our nature, while the reverse is true. We can safely say that 
during the score of years we have been investigatiug it from 
Boston to Louisiana, we have never found higher motives for 
purity of heart and life than we have always found in the teach- 
ings from this source." I candidly believe if the " bottom facts " 
were known, there would be found less corruption and impurity 
among Spiritualists than among any other class of people ; your 
own words even, bear me out in this, when you speak of the 
" hidden lives " of those who are considered " upright and honor- 
able." I have known a great many Spiritualists, but have never 
been intimately acquainted with one whom I believe would thus 
debase his or her soul. I think all true Spiritualists will indorse 
our opinion. 

A word as to these " hidden lives. " It is one of the great pur- 
poses of the spirit world to bring these same to light ; and the 
day is coming when they shall no longer be hidden. " Yea, morej 
the time is not distant when the conviction of the presence of 
spirit friends shall be so clear, that men shall understand how 
the hidden things of this world are to be revealed, and men 
shall knoiu that they walk, speak, and sin in the presence of an- 
gels who can reveal all" A foreshadowing of this truth is even 
now upon the minds of the people, and is the principal reason 
why so many are afraid to investigate the subject of Spiritualism. 
Of course those who are in reality " upmght and honorable " have 
nothing to fear; those who are falsely considered so may well 
tremble, for they have nearly " had their day." 

Instead of thinking with you that " virtue " is a thing of " the 
past," we think it was hardly known in the past, but is to he in 
the future, when " all hearts are open, all desires known," and 
when " no secrets are hid." 

We would here say that the above communication is not to be 
considered in the slightest degree a personal one. It is such an 
one as the subject demanded from us, and from the bearings of 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 57 

the letter, we took occasion to give it forth ; at the same time be- 
lieving the writer thereof to be not only " considered " upright 
and honorable, but to be so, in every sense of the word, and one 
whose character is above suspicion. 

As for letter number three, 
Long will it remembered be : 
Sweet home flowers ! Precious token 
Of friendship pure, unshaken. 

" He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many 
waters." 

Yea, he made my heart once more to rejoice and feel the warmth 
and sunshine of his love : 

He smiled upon me, and blessed my labors of love ; he made the 
earth once more to look, bright and blossom as the rose. 

He made me to feel that friends I had, both warm and true ; 
not only the long tried, but new ones raised he up to me. 

Yea, in a land of strangers, and they took me in, they gave me 
bread and meat. 

They gave me, too, their counsels wise, their warm and loving 
sympathy, and cheered my heart when lone and sad. 

For this, Lord, I bless thy name and all thy goodness 
own. 

Keep me, God, from sin ; help me thy work to do in thine 
appointed way. 

Bless these, my friends, and recompense their kindly deeds and 
acts of love. 

Teach them, teach us, Lord, to trust in thee, and verily we 
shall be fed. 

Alas, alas ! How weak, how frail am I ! 
How vain the lofty structure I did rear ! 
But one short day ago the earth seemed fair, 
My heart the home of light and love to be ; 
Sweet peace did reign within my soul ; surely, 
Thought I, no earthly storms can shake again 
My firm unyielding faith in God, my trust 



58 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

In these, my spirit guides, who have me led 
Through waters deep, sustaining by their love 
And might when all things earthly seemed to fail, 
My soul fast sinking in despair from grief. 
Alas ! I say, these thoughts were vain ; e'en now 
"The dream is past," the lights have fled, and I 
Again in darkness grope. O, why must dreams 
So quickly fade ? and why must all the light 
Go hence, when seemingly we need it most? 
Drew He me from the waters forth, just for 
One breath of sweet fresh air, and then must I 
Be plunged again ; and deeper, deeper still ? 
Am I so deeply stained by sin, that this 
Alone, can cleanse my soul and purify 
My heart ? 'T was said by one of olden time, 
"A man's heart deviseth his way : but the 
Lord directeth his steps." He seems not so 
To do by me. Is it because I'm only 
A woman? Nay, I think that cannot be, 
For his " ways are equal," ( I would that men's 
Were so !) Why, then, doth he hide his face? 
The proverb seems reversed to me ; he permits 
Me not to devise my ways ; my angel 
Guides, His messengers, do that, and then, leave 
All the rest to me, directing not my 
Steps ; at least it so unto me seems. I 
Here had found a resting-place, although 'twas 
From my home afar, beneath a stranger's 
Roof ; yet these had been unto me kind. I 
Loved them well, and gladly would with them 
Remain for times to come : but no. " Go forth," 
They say, " another mission to perform. 
No longer must ye tarry here, for other 
Work have you to do." I ask the time, the 
Way, the means; and what reply? Silence 
Profound. They once had said, " Further south." 
When shall it be, where shall it be, and how? 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 59 

My purse is empty : I cannot go "without 

Money and without price " ! Even could I, 

The way I know not, neither the work ; then 

Why, I say, do these my angel friends refuse 

Their aid to lend ? Silence I 've borne from 

Earthly friends, yet that with this could not 

Compare ; since long ago I left them all, 

My spirit work to do : from them it seems 

Not half so strange, so hard to bear, as from 

The dear ones " gone before," who know full well 

My griefs and cares. A friend doth say, " 'Tis but 

A passing cloud, fear not, for He will lead 

Thee in paths thou hast not known, and will also 

The crooked ways make plain." God grant it may 

Be so, for "tears have been my meat day and 

Night, " while to my heart I continually say, 

" Where is now thy God ? " Deep calleth unto 

Deep, yet they answer not ; the light is all 

Darkness, else my eyes are blinded that I 

Cannot see the light, or the way to go. 

My prayers and my tears alike seem vain. 

But list ! an angel whisper borne on the 

Breeze : " Be still and know that I am God." Yea, 

Gladly will I be still and wait for thee. 

'T is all that I can do ; no power have I 

Of myself to help myself. I '11 gladly 

"Rest in thee." " Shall not God search this out? 

For he knoweth the secrets of the heart." 

" As the hart panteth after the water 

Brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O 

God." 

Here cometh a letter from one who is kind and true hearted, 
who loyes both me and the cause which I espouse. Note the con- 
tents : — 

" I have read a little at a time in your book often, and it has 
been good for me. After reading I feel as if I could go on with 



60 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

the duties of life more faithfully, cheerfully, and hopefully. I 
wish you and your spirit friends to remember me, and may the 
good your writings do, never end. As I understand it, spirit 
friends dictate and you write. I had hoped that your photograph 
would have been in the book; not that /forget how you look, or 
ever expect to, but it would have been pleasant to have shown it 
to my friends. 

I have it in my heart to send you a dollar ; not that I think 
you are writing for money, but I hope that your writings will 

bring you all that you need. Mr. was in here ; said he had 

read your book, and it was well gotten up, but had no preface. 1 
consider the booh a preface to more books that you will write, and 
hope your writings will be a consolation to many, and comfort 
and strengthen them in their path of duty/' 

What mystic power hath words like these ? Not all 

In vain our labors seem, as we had almost 

Feared at times. If what we give doth comfort 

Some, and strengthen in discharge of duty, 

A consolation it will bring unto 

Ourselves, who can but justly claim the small 

Amount of credit due the instrument 

Through which it come. Our willingness is all 

Our plea ; our highest endeavor should be 

To keep ourselves in tune, that no discordant 

Notes go forth to mar the truth and beauty 

Of the teachings conveyed through our frail powers. 

Thou dear kind friend, we will indeed thee in 

Bemembrance keep. Thy life hath had its "ups 

And downs," its trials sore and hard to bear. 

From sorrow's cup thou deep hast drunk, thy heart 

Hath too been racked with pain for those unto 

Thee near and dear, who still in earthly 

Habitations dwell. Through all these years of 

Change and chance (if chance it be) thou hast the 

Gem of faith kept bright, and shown thyself a 

Mother kind and true to those intrusted 

To your care. We love thee well, we thank thee 



THE UNSEALED BOOK, 61 

For thy words of sweet encouragement ; they 
Are as manna to a hungry soul ; we 
Also appreciate the kindness of your 
Warm, generous heart, whose impulse is to 
Us assist ; thy money, dear one, we must 
Decline, for others there are nearer to 
Thee akin who need it more. Our thanks and 
Blessing all the same we gratefully bestow : 
May angels pure and holy thee attend 
Guiding unto thy home above. 

Last night 
There came to me a friend ; I say a friend, 
And yet I never saw or heard of him 
Before. The angels him did send I 'm sure, 
Or rather did conduct him here, for not 
Alone came he : a double purpose in 
His coming I do see, — encouragement 
Unto myself, also a matter to 
Search out. To him is given food for thought, 
A mystery to solve. Beginning with 
The first of these : by conversation I 
Did find his native town was near mine own. , 
He left the same long years ago, his mind 
Intent on college lore. His studies he 
A time pursued, then joined the ranks of 
Soldiers filed to liberate the slave from 
Bondage. A brave soldier he may have been, 
But for all that his heart was captured by 
One of the foe, — a girl, the "most beautiful 
Creature he ever saw." The result you 
May guess. As 'tis "home where the heart is," 
He has since dwelt South ; says he has " one of 
The very best wives that ever lived, only 
One thing is lacking in her, — she 's not 
Musical" Ten years have elapsed since 
He has visited his early home. He 
Had many friends whose names were familiar 



62 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

To me, some few with whom I had been 
Personally acquainted. Of these we 
Conversed ; and to me, who for* months had not 
Met with an individual who had 
Ever set eyes on a person that I 
Knew, it was a rare treat. 

His object in coming to me I will now relate. He had heard 
of me as a spiritual medium ; said he was not a believer in spirit 
communion, from the fact that he could obtain no evidence of the 
same. He believed himself to be open to conviction; had several 
times witnessed the " table-tipping " ; but the moment he laid his 
hands thereon, all demonstrations ceased ; said if he could con- 
verse with his own mother, he should be convinced, and it would 
give him much pleasure. Another friend of mediumistic powers 
being present, we first sat to ascertain the rule of action ; were 
informed that our visitor had a spirit friend present, who would 
like to give his name, and converse with him. We inquired if our 
friend should put his hands on ■ the table. They said, " Yes " ; 
and he did so. Our hands, as usual, had been placed lightly on 
the table, which was quite a heavy one. Before he laid his hands 
upon it, however, it came up with a light, easy movement, as if it 
had been but a feather's weight, rapping out replies to all of our 
questions.- The moment he placed his hands thereon, all was as 
silent as the grave, the table seemed as firm and immovable as if 
it had been nailed to the floor. 

We sat there a long time, but no "voice nor sound " broke the 
stillness, until our friend removed his hands from the table, when 
it again raised lightly up, and we endeavored by questionings to 
solve the mystery. This we could not do, but obtained a promise 
that it should be done at some future time. The spirit who wished 
to converse with our friend then gave his name, and lo ! it was 
a soldier-companion who had been shot down at Ms side ; further- 
more, he was from my native town. His family I knew, but was 
entirely ignorant of the time, place, and circumstances of his death. 
Our friend, who well knew the particulars regarding the same, 
then inquired of him thereof, and every question was correctly 
answered. The name of the place at which he was killed was 
spelled out, the date, hour of the day, etc., given, with sundry 
other tests proving his identity beyond a doubt (to us at least). 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 63 

The following message was also given : " You will be convinced 
of this truth through me if I can have the right conditions." We 
asked what those conditions were ; and he gave us to understand 
that he was a trance medium, doubtless thinking if he could have 
an opportunity to talk "face to face" with his friend, he could no 
longer doubt. 

That the eyes of his understanding may be opened, is our fervent 
desire and prayer. 

This, dear friends, is but one instance of the proofs of spirit 
communion which are daily occurring in our midst, stirring the 
surface of the soil, awakening the minds of the people, and en- 
grossing their time and attention ; not only giving them food for 
thought, but inspiring them to put that thought into action; 
some in. one direction, and some in another, "to the end that their 
glory may sing praises to thee, Lord, and not be silent." Noble 
and intelligent minds are being impressed to write the thoughts 
given them by wise and truthful spirits from a higher sphere. The 
Lord, through his appointed agencies, is preparing to break down 
and scatter the walls of superstition and ignorance by which the 
people have been hemmed in on every side. For this, Lord, we 
praise and bless thy glorious name, praying thee for a furtherance 
of the same in thine own appointed way, by thy well-chosen means 
and instruments. We know little of this people, so far as worldly 
wealth and knowledge are concerned, yet of this are we assured • 
many are seeking the true wisdom from on high, which neither 
gold or silver can buy. 

" There be four things which be little upon the earth, but they 
are exceeding wise : 

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in 
the summer. 

The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in 
the rocks. 

The locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by 
bands. 

The spider taketh hold with hor hands, and is in kings' pal- 
aces." 

Wilt thou, Lord, vouchsafe to hear our prayer in behalf of 
this people; though they be "not strong" as yet, may they in- 
crease more and more in the knowledge and love of thee, and of 
thy manifold works. 



64 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And may they, in the summer of their lives on earth, prepare 
for themselves both meat and drink spiritual, from which their 
souls shall be fed in the bright summer-land toward which their 
hopes and labors tend. 

May they, like the conies, " build their houses in the rocks," 
Jesus Christ the righteous being the chief corner-stone. 

Like the locusts may they have no earthly king, but each one 
go forth, guided and directed by his own spirit band, which same 
will him protect, nor suffer to be led astray. 

May we not also hope these mediums of God's mercy and 
love may, by their "faith and good works," make manifest 
the spiritual element of the same in its purity and truth, 
and be enabled in time, like the spider, to enter even " kings' 
palaces." 

These things, Lord, will ye do unto them, and forsake them 
not. 

my friends beloved, my heart is filled with deep emotions and 
strong; some of pleasure mingled with much of pain. I take 
pleasure in the atmosphere which I breathe, and rejoice in the 
society of hearts and minds congenial to mine own, whose souls 
also take delight in those things which, as we are daily assured, 
" please the Lord." But " the heart knoweth its own bitterness," 
and in all our lives the bitter is mingled with the sweet. As you 
well know, I 'm but a stranger and a sojourner in the land. These 
people are not my people, although their God is my God, and with 
them I rejoice and glorify his holy name for all his wondrous 
works. And then, my friends, will come to me distressing 
thoughts and sad, of another people, beloved and cherished still 
by me, but " 0, how lofty are their eyes ! and their eyelids are 
lifted up." Yea, wise are they in their own conceits ; thinking 
their own righteousness doth exceed the righteousness of many of 
God's chosen and elect, who are beneath them in point of worldly 
honor and estate. I speak not now of myself, nor are the pains I 
bear so much for me as for those who have shut the door of their 
hearts lest the " spirit of truth " should enter therein. It doth 
seem to me strange, a mystery beyond compare, that earth friends 
can treat their dear ones gone before with such undisguised cool- 
ness, giving them not the slightest opportunity of making them- 
selves or their conditions known. I wonder not that such as these 
cling fondly to their earth-born hopes, and shrink from death's 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 65 

embrace, trembling with fear at his near approach; for "king of 
terrors " is his name to them. 

what, dear friends, would be your fate, if these in turn should 
you desert in that, to you, sad, trying hour? should fail your spir- 
its to conduct unto that home which they, in love, have helped 
prepare for you ? Sometimes, loved ones, when thoughts like 
these fill all my soul, I long on bended knee before each one to 
pray, beseech, enforce a knowledge of the same. My life for this 
I would resign. You will doubtless think that of little worth. 
either unto myself or you, since I have given you to know, death 
would be to me a " sweet release." But, friends, mine own dear 
ones, there was a time, and that not long agone, when life to 
me seemed bright and fair. I had no wish to leave, even for a 
brighter home I could but feel awaited me. I also thought the 
time was near at hand, and what I had here to do must be "done 
quickly." The work in which I was engaged I felt would be my 
last on earth. I was inspired to work with zeal when health and 
strength seemed failing fast. This work I must not leave unfin- 
ished. There were three obvious reasons for its accomplishment : 
my own peace of mind ; the satisfaction of my spirit guides, who 
directed and controlled my efforts for the purpose; and last, but 
not least, my beloved friends, the hope of awakening in your own 
minds a desire to search for this knowledge, and that ye might 
seek for it as for " hid treasures." Am I satisfied ? I surely have 
great peace of mind. I have reason to believe that my spirit 
friends are rejoiced at what they have been enabled to accomplish 
through me. Spiritually, I have great cause for thankfulness. 
Although in the world I have had much tribulation, and have, 
because of this work and this faith, been made to feel that many 
dear earthly friends, in whose behalf were these labors, have tram- 
pled upon the same. I entered not thoughtlessly into this work, 
nor was I wholly unprepared for the contemptuous reception of 
the same by you. I ofttimes felt, while writing, like one who 
"sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." ]S T or have I 
changed, dear friends, in my love toward you ; my desire to yon 
aid grows with my growth in spiritual knowledge, and strength- 
ens with my strength of purpose. I am persuaded that the Lord 
hath begun a good work in your hearts, although as yet ye are 
unwilling to acknowledge the same. Had I changed, dear friends. 
I should be elsewise employed. Instead of penning what I do 



QQ THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

here, and seeming to you reproach, I should return to 3^011, and on 
bended knee beseech of you — what? Surely not to look after 
your own souls' needs ; nay, but simply to overlook and forgive 
all that may have been said or written to disturb the equanimity 
of your own self-conceit; steadfastly promising you that, from 
this time forward, the unwelcome subject should not be so much 
as named among you, or in any manner brought before the public, 
lest your own shortcomings be made manifest, and you appear 
before the world in the same light which your own heart tells you, 
He that looketh upon the heart alone doth not in all things ap- 
prove. Were I in pursuit of earthly friends, and were that my 
highest intent, this would surely be my course of action; and it 
may not be amiss to add, that whatever has been or may be said, 
by or through me, which may seem harsh or unjust to yourselves, 
proceeds from no bitterness or unkindly feeling toward any, but 
from a desire to establish the truth. While we firmly believe that 
the "wounds of a friend" are faithful, and that " open rebuke is 
better than secret love," we know that they are not so received or 
understood by those who have attained but a small degree of 
heavenly wisdom. We are assured that many things which are 
hidden from the worldly-wise and prudent are revealed unto babes 
in Christ, and that " they are all plain to him that understand- 
eth, and right to them that find knowledge." 

" The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that 
can render a reason." 

" Eeprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man 
and he will love thee." 

" As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the 
curse causeless shall not come." 

"When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is 
pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understand- 
ing shall keep thee. 

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her." 

My dear home friends ! to you my heart doth cling 

Tenderly, fondly, lovingly, kindly ; 

Yet for myself ho boon from thee I crave, 

Not e'en to lay my bones within your 

Churchyard pale, to mingle with their native 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 67 

Dust : your faces I no more may see on 

This side heaven, except in dreams, or in 

Imagination fair : yet in my heart, 

Deeply engraved, are images which time 

Nor distance can efface ; fond mem'ry dwells 

On these, with scenes once bright and fair, 

But now, alas ! " all gone, all gone " from me, 

Or I from them, it matters little which ; 

But O, my head, my heart ! which pain is most 

Severe ? I cannot tell, I can but weep : 

Tears blind mine eyes while this I write ; the fount 

Of grief I thought was sealed for aye, bursts forth 

Afresh, and threatens to my reason overthrow. 

" When I am weak then am I strong," I oft 

Have said, but now, alas ! 't is all turned round, 

I thought myself quite strong, but find instead 

How weak I am, how little I can meekly 

Bear ; again, it was my purpose now to 

Only talk to you of spirits dear, who 

Are to you closely allied in friendship 

And in sympathy ; when self comes looming 

Up between, thus scatt'ring all the better 

Thoughts which should engage my mind and heart. 

Away with self ! and selfish grief, avaunt ! 

Let wisdom guide, and love direct my heart 

And brain. 

My friends, I left you here, for 0, 
Mine aching head and saddened heart prevented 
More ; sweet balmy sleep the former did restore, 
A vision did the shadows from my heart 
Disperse. It came to me in silent watches 
Of the night ; an angel stood beside my 
Bed and thus unto me spoke : " Thou art a 
Cat's paw to release souls from the burning 
Sins of ignorance." A moment's silence 
And the scene was changed. I sat in a 
Familiar room before an open fire, whose 



68 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Embers fast were dying out, though still alive ; 

I was, as now, far from my home ; in an 

Adjoining room a friend unto me dear 

Seemed busily engaged, when all at once 

Her angel guide said unto her, " Sister, 

Pray." She bowed herself and earnestly poured 

Forth her soul in prayer ; the words I could not 

Catch (if words indeed they were at all) ; the 

Sounds which came to me, in murmurs soft and 

Low, seemed not the voice of one, but many 

In the distance ; their earnestness did seem 

To set my soul on fire ; just then my spirit 

Guide spoke once again this single word, "Write." 

I instantly complied with his request. 

An inspiration seized my soul, and rapidly 

The lines I penned. My friend kept praying on. 

Her prayers, as they ascended high, did seem 

The inspiration to enhance ; my soul 

Was filled with ecstasy at thought of what 

Would come of this : and with these thoughts 

The work kept pace, till suddenly the dream 

Was past, and I awoke. A dream I say, 

Yet well I know it was not all a dream, 

For oft at night these visions come to me ; 

Sometimes I can the same interpret ; when 

This I fail to do, my spirit friends who 

Give the same do lend their aid, and make it 

All unto me clear. So when the morning 

Li^ht doth come, I'll ask them to this one 

Explain, and give its meaning unto you. 

When I awoke the moon was shining brightly : 

At first I thought 't was dawn of day, but soon 

The clock struck three, and I was undeceived ; 

(I wish, my friends, that you would read a book 

Which doth this title bear, " The Clock struck Three " ; 

Methinks it might you undeceive, and help 

To break from error's chain.) I tried in vain 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. bd 

To close mine eyes and slumber on ; no rest 
Had I till from my couch I did arise 
And write this vision as you see. 

The morn 
Hath dawned ; and though 't is neither bright or fair, 
My heart is light compared with yesterday : 
For visions float before mine eyes of what 
May be'm after years. O, shall I then 
From yon bright sky behold rejoicingly 
The scene ? I promised you the meaning of 
My last night's dream, so now that promise I '11 
Fulfil, for he who gave it me hath it 
To me explained. The fire he said did 
Eepresent the " burning sins of ignorance " ; 
While the " friend " from whom those prayers went forth 
Did signify a people strong ; that people, 
Friends, your own dear selves. "Her augel guide," of 
Course, a simile of your own beloved 
Spirit guides, who, even now, had some induced 
To fervently " seek truth and live " ; from these 
Did float sweet incense to the skies. And your 
Dear ones caught up the strain and wafted it 
Unto mine own angelic band, while they, 
In turn, the joyful news conveyed to me, 
Awaking again to life my fast 
Declining hopes, inspiring each long-dormant 
Key its slumb'ring genius to pour forth in 
Language not mine own. The earnest prayers had 
Been just what they seemed, voices and sounds from 
Many hearts, murmured rather than spoken ; no 
Form of words could yet express the same ; and 
Then, my friends, he kindly did my soul remind 
Of that dear " boon " I was of you about 
To crave. I have more courage now to speak, 
For some, I feel assured, will lovingly 
The same consider, and bring about a 
Good result, a twofold blessing undisguised. 



70 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

This boon, as I have said, is not for me ; 

'Tis for your own in spirit land. O, how 

They love ! and how they long their love to tell 

To you, who will not, dare not heed ! Ask ye 

How I a knowledge of your friends have gained ? 

Many an one to me has come, yea, in 

Sadness come, because — they could not 

Come " unto their own " and be received. In 

Vain have they knocked at the door of your hearts ; 

Ye bid them not to enter in, nor even one 

Kind word with them did offer to exchange. 

Again I ask, How can you treat them so ? 

No earthly friend, less dear by far than they, 

Would ye thus coldly turn away. O, had 

You seen what I have seen, and heard what I 

Have heard, the mute and silent grief of some, 

The wild and frantic cries of others, who failed 

To make themselves unto their earth friends known, 

No further urging would ye need, unless 

Your hearts are harder than the cold and 

Selfish world ye choose to serve. O, if within 

Your warm and loving hearts, one spark of fond 

Affection still remains for them, I pray 

You kindle from the spark a flame of love 

Once more, to light your pathway here below, 

And lead you to the heavenly pastures fair 

And large, when earth and earthly things grow faint 

And dim, o'ershadowed by your spirit vision 

Bright and pure. A blessing you will then confer 

On those who watch and wait for you ; a blessing 

Too yourselves receive, a bond of sympathy 

And love establish, firm as the "Kock of 

Ages," and lasting as eternity. 

Know ye not, my precious friends, that Christ did 

Teach what you discard ? w Long ago he wept 

Over Jerusalem ; to-day he weeps 

Over his mistaken people." To-day 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 71 

In our Father's home in the sky, beloved 

Ones are weeping, waiting with hands outstretched 

To feed our souls with the bread and wine of 

Celestial love ; to lift for us the veil 

Of pride that shuts from our sight the beautiful 

Spiritual light, that many in their 

Cultivated religion have hidden. 

Religion, without this light, is as barren 

And sterile as the spring and summer would be 

Without flowers. O, could you but see for 

Yourselves the beautiful world that lies near 

You, the beautiful dawn that is upon 

You, no longer would you suffer the curtain 

Of prejudice to shut out the light, " the 

Only light that reveals to you where God 

Has placed your loved ones." May God be with you, 

And help you to find the way that leads you 

Into the fold of truth. Amen. 

We take the liberty of copying from the " American Spiritual 
Magazine " the following beautiful lines, which were breathed by 
the spirit Consuela through an unconscious medium : — 



"CONSUELA" TO THE "PILGBIM." 

When the dawn's rosy light first illumes the sky, 
The lark chants her matins, light winds wander by; 
When the angel of dreams lifts her spell from thy brain, 
And thou wakest to life and its labors again, 
I will be coming, coming to thee. 

When thy soul is oppressed with its duties and cares, 
There comes no response to thy tears or thy prayers, 
When the wrong shall abound, and thy toil seem in vain. 
When truth in the house of her children is slain, 
I will be watching, watching o'er thee. 



72 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

A pilgrim, a wanderer, long must thou be, 
To bear our white banner o'er land and o'er sea ; 
But oh, when the lone heart grows weary and chill, 
When hope's voice is silent, love's song is still, 
I will be singing, singing to thee. 

"When the storms are all over, the breakers are past, 
Thy foot on the shore, home at last, home at last ! 
Sing huzza, shout huzza ! for the victory won, 
Anew o'er the hills beams thy life's morning sun. 
I shall be ever, forever with thee ! 



" Home at last ! " ay, for me a home in the 
Skies, where I may be "ever, forever 
With thee," my own dear spirit bard ; and yet 
These words recall to mind a warm and 
Cherished earthly friend, who breathed rather than 
Spoke the same, while clasping me with kind 
Embrace. And was it home to me ? if so, 
Home, like heaven, must have two definitions, 
Each from the other distinct : the one a 
Location, the other a state of being ; 
The first, permanent or transferable at 
Will ; the second beyond our power of control. 

I, I, I ! This everlasting big /, this constantly recurring I, I, I ! 
I wish / could rule it out of my vocabulary ; and yet if / should, 
what could i" do or say? I might write it thus, (i); but even 
then it is i" all the same, however insignificant in appearance ; 
and beside, in the I's (eyes) of the world it " might n't be 
proper" as said a friend, who, after writing me a long letter, 
" would be glad to hear from me, but/' etc. There is no danger 
of my overstepping the bounds of propriety in this respect, so 
long as my friend's good name is at stake, in his own eyes or in 
the eyes of the public, however much I may differ in opinion ; 
not that I do differ in opinion even, in this case, except in the use 
of the word " proper," for which I should substitute the word 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 73 

right, and act according to my own convictions of the same, with- 
out regard to public or any other opinion as to whether it was 
proper or the reverse. 

But this is a digression. If we were to substitute a small i, it 
would of course be attributed to ignorance on our part, and would 
render us more conspicuous than before, and in a manner which 
might n't be pleasing. To obviate this difficulty then, I propose 
to adhere more strictly to a mode I have already adopted at times, 
or, rather, has been adopted by those more deeply concerned than 
myself. In other words, to substitute we for I. This seems but 
just to the kind spirits who, I am pleased to believe, control even 
my unspoken thoughts. The plurality of the expression seems 
perfectly right and proper too, when we consider that two or 
more persons are enlisted in the service, and, we fully believe, sanc- 
tion the same. 

Let us pause and reflect. A letter has been written; a reply 
to the same "might n't be proper." Why? The only reason 
which suggests itself to our mind is, the writer is a man, the 
receiver a woman. Is this conclusive reason ? In the eyes of 
society, yea and amen. In the eyes of the great All- Wise, who is 
no " respecter of persons," and who created both man and woman, 
"true greatness has no sex, true religion no sects" Why is "wo- 
man's sphere " so much written and talked of, while man's sphere 
is an unheard-of thing ? Why but because the contracted, nar- 
row-minded portion of the community, who, on account of their 
multitudinous numbers, have so long ruled the world, endeavor 
to make the sphere of woman so diminutive that it can be spanned 
at a single glance of the eye ? While man's is so wide and far- 
reaching, no eye can measure its greatness, much less find a name 
comprehensive of the same ! 

A wise and just God will deal with each of us according to the 
cleanness of our hearts; and He in whose book are all our mem- 
bers written, will call us to an account for each member. In his 
eyes the true sphere of every human being is that for which nature 
has best fitted him or her. 

We shall make some extracts from the lectures of one who de- 
serves great " credit for her talents, intelligence, and her support 
of popular rights. Although she wielded much power, it is al- 
leged that she never used it for the promotion of unworthy per- 
sons; or, as other favorites have done, for corrupt purposes.'' 



74 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

This " eccentric " individual (as the newspapers call her) lays 
claim to the honor of having caused more newspaper paragraphs 
and more biographies (pretended) than any other woman living. 
Of the latter she has herself seen twenty-three or twenty-four, not 
one of which " came any nearer being a biography of her than it 
did to being an authentic history of the man in the moon." As 
many as three times seven cities have been given as her birth- 
place ; and the laughable thing is, not one of these self-imposed 
writers has " hit upon the real place of her birth." She begins to 
doubt whether she ever had a father, or was born at all, except in 
the separate brain of every man who has attempted to write her 
history. 

After having given, in her own words, the calm and more peace- 
ful portion of her life, she says : — 

" What is to come is all storm, excitement, and unrest, and full 
of seeming contradiction, I know ; but there is, or should be, a 
key which, when possessed, explains the difficult volumes of our 
natures, as well as there is to the works of science and art. I am 
fortunate in this at least, that the subject of my lecture has noth- 
ing to lose by having the truth told about her." 

If all could say this, the world would not know itself, the 
bright millennial dawn would be upon us in all its glorious splen- 
dor. Equal rights would not only be demanded, but would be 
supported and sustained in every relation of life. Whether this 
will or can be brought about without the aid of the ballot, we are 
unprepared to say ; but there is much truth in the following, and 
we would advise every true woman to consider the dignity of the 
same : — 

" One woman going forth in independence and power of self- 
reliant strength to assert her individuality, and to defend, with 
whatever means Ood has given her, her right to a just portion of 
earth's privileges, will do more than a million of convention- 
women to make herself known and felt in the world. There is 
such a great difference between strength of mind and strength of 
tongue ! Men only laugh at a convention of scolds, and pay no 
more attention to what they say than to the chattering of a flock 
of blackbirds ; but they will gaze with admiration and respect on 
a woman who sets herself to a brave and manly task, and actually 
accomplishes a heroic deed ; but we shall be told that such exam- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 75 

pies are almost solitary cases. No, they are not. It will puzzle 
any man to find in the pages of history as many instances of real 
and startling heroism in his sex as I could hunt up in mine. 
There have been whole eras in which the heroism of women shone 
out with a general lustre which made it the rule and not the ex- 
ception of her character." 

But do these women receive the credit they deserve ? By no 
means. For instance, the discovery of America: what child 
could not tell you by whom it was discovered ? And yet how few 
of our learned progenies could or would acknowledge the discov- 
ery of the same " due to the far-sighted sagacity and patronage of 
a woman, Queen Isabella of Aragon ; for when the king and his 
court had refused with scorn the petition of Columbus, the great 
discoverer had recourse to the queen, who furnished him with 
means and aid, which resulted in his triumphant success. Our 
friend also writes : " It is true there is hardly a great or heroic 
woman of history, whose name has escaped the contagion of scan- 
dal ; while great men have passed measurably unscathed, because, 
I suppose, the world had no right to expect any degree of morality 
in the life of a great man. But woman, ah ! she must be a saint, 
even while she hurls a tyrant from his throne, and does the rough 
work of war and revolution. 

"Well, so she should be, and thus leave to man the entire mo- 
nopoly of all the sin of the world ! I do not offer one excuse for 
her faults. I only demand that a great woman should be judged 
by the same rules by which a great man is judged. To descend 
from this high plane of public history into the private homes of 
the world, in which sex, think you, should we there find the pur- 
est spirit of heroism ? 

Who suffers sorrow and pain with the most heroism of heart ? 
Who, in the midst of poverty, neglect, and cavilling despair, holds 
on most bravely through the terrible struggle, and never yields, 
even to the fearful demands of necessity, until death wrests the 
last weapon of defence from her hands ? 

Ah, if this unwritten heroism of woman could be brought to 
light, even man himself would cast his proud wreath of fame at 
her feet!" 

This strong-minded woman also says: "Alas! for a woman 
whose circumstances, or whose natural propensities and powers 
push her forward beyond the line of the ordinary routine of fe- 



76 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

male life, unless she possess a saving amount of that force of resist- 
ance which will enable her to stand firm. Many a woman who 
has had strength to get outside of that line, has not possessed the 
strength to stand there ; and the fatal result has been that she 
has been swept down into the gulf of irredeemable sin. The 
great misfortune was, that there was too much of her to be held 
within the prescribed and safe limits allotted to woman, but there 
was not enough to enable her to stand securely beyond the shelter 
of conventional rules. 

Within this little bit of philosophy there is a key which unlocks 
the dark secret of the fall and everlasting ruin [we trust not 
" everlasting "] of many of the most beautiful and naturally gifted 
women of the world. 

If a woman is qualified to be a happy wife and a good mother, 
she need never look with envy upon the more gifted woman of 
genius, whose mental powers may have unfitted her for the quiet 
walks of domestic life. In the woman of rare mental endowments 
there may be a necessity in her own nature, forcing her into a 
field of action altogether different in its sphere from the duties 
usually allotted to woman. When this is the case, she must obey 
her destiny ; but the woman who has only those humble charms 
which fit her to be the light and the presiding goddess of the 
beautiful circle of 'home,' is really to be envied by her more 
gifted sister, whose powers tempt her out upon the turbulent sea 
of politics and diplomacy. 

But, alas ! woman's lot in this sphere of home is too often a sad 
and thankless one. It is demanded of her that she make a home, 
whether her husband provides the means or not; and it must 
be a happy one, though his temper is as savage as that of a 
tiger. 

What do men mean when they call woman the weaker sex ? 
Not, surely, that she is less strong and brave of heart and purpose 
to meet the tidal shocks of life ! Not that she is not every whit 
the peer of man in all the elements of heroism and genuine nobil- 
ity of soul ! 

That masculine philosophy which regards and would treat wo- 
man as an inferior being, is not only an insult to that God who 
created her as the equal companion of man, but it is contradicted 
by every stage of history and experience. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 77 

Her excellence may be generally displayed in a less ostentatious 
field than man's, but still the idea of perfect equality is not im- 
paired on that account. In the best type of the female character 
there is a firmness which does not exclude delicacy, and a softness 
which does not imply weakness." This reminds us of some ex- 
quisite lines of Moore : — 

"Yet there was light around her brow, 
A holiness in those bright eyes, 
"Which showed, though reaching earthward now, 
Her spirit's home was in the skies. 
Yes, for a spirit pure as hers 
Is always pure, e'en while it errs, 
As sunshine broken in the rill, 
Though turned astray, is sunshine still." 

Many, doubtless, will this read who will say in their hearts it is 
a one-sided argument. To such we will say, there is no prescribed 
rule or form of rules which will apply unto, or by which we can 
judge, any people of either sex individually. All have their 
exceptions, be they many or few. "We can recall to mind hun- 
dreds of instances which would justify a complete reversion of 
some portions of the foregoing ; where the man's instead of the 
woman's " rights " were trampled upon, and he the party who was 
constrained to meekly bear all things from his miscalled " better 
half," forbearing to arouse her indignation by any suggestions in 
regard to economy or any other matter in which they were both 
equally concerned ; he meanwhile providing bountifully for the 
needs of the household by his unremitting toil, while the wife and 
mother, instead of making herself and home bright and cheery 
for his reception, only regales him with murmurings and com- 
plaints the little time he is permitted to spend in this delightful 
retreat. 

We are not surprised that such should seek elsewhere for the 
congenial society their own homes fail to supply ; nor do we think 
such would be envied by our friend, "not because they were men, 
but because they were not women." As far as we have been able 
to judge, however, these cases are the exceptions, and not the 
rule. 

What we would advise, and hope to see in "the good time com- 
ing," is for every human being who is endued with reason and 



78 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

common- sense, to assert and to maintain their own individuality 
of character, that individuality based upon the true principles of 
equality, equity, and justice. 

A bright sunny sky, a fresh balmy day ; 
And best of all, some letters for us, I 
Suppose ; but let me see, one is for me, 
A sunbeam sent by a bright little spirit, 
Whose heart is the home of sunshine and love ; 
God bless you, sweet child ! and make you as pure 
In your spring-time of life, as the tiny 
Sweet-scented flowers which came, and which were by 
Your loving hands culled. O, how I do long 
To clasp you once more to my heart, estranged 
From all it on earth holds dear ; to hear your 
Sweet accents of tender child-love, as guileless 
And pure as the angels above ! 

And here, 
Spirit friends, are letters for us, two. How 
Strange that by threes they so oft do come, and 
Then for days will be "nary a one." The 
First we shall read is from a learned M. D., 
Who kindly expresses regard for me, 
And also vouchsafes a short message for 
Us, although from his words I cannot tell 
Whether he in his heart accords it to 
All. 

" Please accept my sincere thanks for the book, and allow me 
to congratulate you on your success in presenting to the reading 
community something so worthy of their perusal." 

" Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous 
cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lobd be mag- 
nified." 

Our second letter contains the following : — 

"I have perused your book, and while I found many things in 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 79 

it which I both understand and appreciate, seeing therein the 
earnestness of your soul, and the best of motives for the helping 
of womankind, and the elevation of all, I can still see, with an 
unprejudiced mind, that it can never practically influence the 
minds and hearts of those you wish to reach. These influences, 
my dear, I have had some experience with, and find this: that 
until the spiritual has become so refined and elevated as to unite 
with it the practical, what you would get would result as your 
book will result, in a failure to do what you wish done. 

Now I find that what we want to know is, to understand when 
to cast up the pearls before the world. What you need is this, to 
let the influences work upon your nature until they have moulded, 
fashioned, and educated it ; then you will be ready to write what 
will satisfy yourself and be a help to others. 

The lives of many of us, however rich they may be to ourselves, 
are a barren waste to others ; and although we have many rich 
experiences that bear fruit in our own souls, every man and wo- 
man has something of the same, but when told in prose or verse, 
they fall a dead weight to the ground. The majority of people care 
nothing for Spiritualism or spiritual things, being busied with 
making money, and not having worked out of the swaddling- 
clothes of selfishness. I expect yet to have thoughts from you 
that will really satisfy my whole nature, but I cannot find them in 
this book. Study practical things, at the same time educate your 
spiritual and ideal conditions as you are now, and all will be 
well." 

The writer of the foregoing, though quite youthful, seemed so 
much the embodiment of wisdom, that after perusing the letter, 
" I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good ; and 
my sorrow was stirred. 

My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned ; 
then spake I with my tongue, 

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, 
what it is ; that I may know how frail I am? 

A gleam of light flashed upon my soul at the remembrance of 
the following : — 

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance 
of his friend. 



80 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Whoso keepeth the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof ; so he 
that waiteth on his master shall be honored." 

My mind was somewhat relieved, though still in a state of doubt 
and perplexity as to the course I was to pursue, believing as I do 
that to " every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the 
misery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that 
which shall be : for who can tell him when it shall be ? " 

I applied mine heart unto wisdom, and all this have I 
seen. 

" There is a time when one man ruleth over another to his own 
hurt. There be just men unto whom it happeneth according to 
the work of the wicked. Again, there be wicked men to whom it 
happeneth according to the work of the righteous." I felt like 
the Preacher to exclaim, "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." 
I went to my spiritual pastor for counsel and advice. He gave me 
to understand that he wished to answer my friend's letter through 
the organism of a medium whom he had upon a former occasion 
controlled for a like purpose (but not for me). Having obtained 
the consent of the medium to be used as his instrument, the fol- 
lowing communication was given : — 

" Your letter is a strange compound of misgivings suited to 
persons of doubtful minds, who have no just idea of what it takes 
to make up a book to suit the times and the public taste. Some- 
thing might be said in regard to an active theology of events com- 
prising certain doctrines or taste in policy making, whereby the 
ins and outs of society might be understood and acted upon. In 
the first place, it is not to be supposed that a person unknown 
and unsung should have the prerequisites of book-making in such 
a degree as to fully understand in advance exactly what the world 
would receive as "bona fide literature, whether it be for instruction 
or amusement. In the premises, there is such a thing as magnifi- 
cence of taste suited to the squeamish proclivities of the forlorn 
and dissolute mortals who peregrinate from place to place and 
who have no local habitation or home. Such as these may be 
likened unto the moral precepts contained in our book, which 
may account for our misgivings as to the propriety of enlarging 
upon the merits of our proficieney in book-writing. We, having 
no fixed ideas but the general good, chose to treat all of our sub- 
jects contained in the book in the way to greet the hearts and 
souls of the great majority, with something likening unto a char- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 81 

nel-house of filth which needed cleansing, all for the want of that 
attention necessary for a general distribution of the great and 
good gifts held in store for those whose discernment could see the 
beauties of nature exemplified in a threefold sense of justice to 
mankind groping in darkness and ignorance; not knowing which 
way to look for succor or atonement for their sins of omission and 
commission, engendered by a lack of wisdom which will be sup- 
plied by this book in its simple and artistic style of reasoning and 
good sense. 

A mere looker-on in Venice saw but little to tell of the beauties 
there to be seen ; but those who entered and examined all and 
every thing to be seen and learned, returned with great wisdom 
to their simple-minded friends who stood aghast at the magnifi- 
cence as rehearsed by the practical inquirer and examiner, who 
saw and examined all and every thing he met in his researches 
among the grand and glorious displays therein exposed to the 
light and glory of this world, as a beacon-light for all who will 
come hereafter, searching for things to feast their eyes upon and 
fill their hearts with gratitude to the great Giver of all good, that 
they were permitted to enjoy such a feast of reason and flow of 
soul, in contemplating the satisfaction and ease of mind secured 
by their researches among the hidden treasures of this world, 
emblematic of a much better enjoyment hereafter in that ' home 
not made with hands eternal in the heavens.' " 

" For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi- 
palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places," taking for our 
weapon "the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." 

One week agone, my spirit friends, feeble 

And faint I lay, I could not see which way 

To go ; I asked of thee, but no response, 

Each friend and foe did seem his face to hide, 

While troublous waves came dashing high, and beat 

Against my little bark far out at sea : 

I thought I must my course pursue, and vainly 

Tried to paddle on until my strength was 

Wellnigh spent ; then came' a voice of sweet accord 



82 THE UNSEALED BOOK. ' 

And breathed unto my soul these words : "Am I 
A God from thee afar, and not a God 
Unto thee near ? " And then within my heart 
I said, " Thou art my God, my times are in 
Thy hands." It was the same dear voice which had said, 
"Be still, and know that I am God." I have 
Been still, and peace has been again restored. 
The winds above, the waves below, are hushed 
To rest, and I once more may calmly sail, 
With thee, my precious loving guides to steer ; 
Thou hast already pointed out the beacon 
Light far, far ahead, and bid me row my 
Boat to shore ; that shore no longer is obscured 
By black'ning storms of dark despair : the way 
I know, the time has unto me been given, 
While from an unexpected source came means 
Sufficient for my present needs. And now, 
Dear Lord, enable me to "look ahead 
With cheer," to do thy will as thou may it 
To me reveal ; and if I fall, may I 
By thy might arise. When I again in 
Darkness sit, wilt thou, O Lord, be unto 
Me a light, and may thy love still hold me 
Up, for I am thine, and only thine. I 
Trust " whate'er betides, I've known the worst," for 
Thus an angel friend doth say, a friend I 
Fearlessly can trust, since never from his 
Truthful lips or guileless heart have come a 
Word or thought untrue. My loving band are 
All both kind and true of heart : I know they 
Will me guide aright, although at times they 
May withhold, and wisely too, from my weak 
Brain, the purpose which to them is clear. Did 
They not so, their task would be a vain and 
Hopeless one ; I may, and doubtless sometimes 
Do, these loving ones misunderstand, and 
& Suff 'ring bring in consequence ; but I am 



THE UNSEALEI* BOOK. 83 

Daily led to see it is not meet that 

We of earth should too much wisdom 

Gain, while yet we sojourn here ; our cups of 

Understanding are so very small, they 

Hold at best no great amount, a surplus 

Would them overflow ; and this suggests some 

Other thoughts. If by God's mercy we have 

Been abundantly supplied with food while 

Many faint for lack of daily bread, shall 

We not give them from our store ? God's bounty 

Hath for all supplied, his wisdom hath 

Directed how each hungry soul may with 

The bread of life be fed ; yet myriads 

Of starving souls no morsel may obtain : 

And why ? Is God unjust ? nay, 't is we his 

Appointed instruments who are unjust. 

This earth-sphere we would liken to a wheel, 

Whose centre is the throne of God ; each spoke 

The wheel contains being the ladder of 

Progression ; upon each round of the ladder 

There are, or should be, sentinels on duty, 

Whose mission it is to instruct and to 

Enlighten corresponding sentinels, 

On the round of knowledge but a step below 

Themselves ; at the same time refreshing their 

Own souls with glimpses of the beautiful 

Beyond, as portrayed by the holy angels, 

Who are continually ascending 

And descending in their midst. 

Were God's wise purposes fulfilled, and did 

We his instruments work according to 

His will and design, how perfect and 

Complete would be the attainment of heavenly 

Bliss ; but his glorious plans are hidden 

From view, by our own folly and ignorance, 

In substituting our narrow and selfish 

Ideas and aims, thus destroying and 



84 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Perverting the harmony and love which 

A fulfilment of his designs would 

Establish and maintain. The sentinels 

In many cases fail to reach forth a 

Friendly hand to a brother in need, 

Striving only for their own exaltation ; 

Thus the condition is broken, a link 

In the beautiful chain is severed, and 

What is the result ? That all below must 

Fall to the ground, their senses shocked by the 

Sudden descent, their faith and their hope 

Amazingly less. And what of the chain 

Left dangling in air ? Alas ! it must hang, 

Until some brother or sister draws near, 

Assisting with zeal untiring and true 

To unite once more the bright golden chain 

Of peace, harmony, and love. If, when we 

Did wrong, no effect was produced save unto 

Ourselves, the incitement to good would be 

Far less strong ; but Nature's first law, " cause and 

Effect," render this same impossible with 

Spirits or mortals, and all who do come 

Within our sphere must share somewhat in our 

Revulsions. Were all to do their own true 

Share of labor, no broken or no unfilled 

Bounds our ladders would contain, no missing 

Or disjointed links our chains exhibit ; 

Nor would the honest whole-souled laborer 

Be forced, because of his great love of humanity, 

To do double or even quadruple 

Duty, as is often the case. These same 

Golden chains 'twixt earth and heaven are still 

Far apart and by many unseen ; their 

Spirit exists o'er the widespread earth, but like 

All things spiritual, cannot be discerned 

By the carnally minded sons of earth. 

The spirit must be clothed upon 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. $5 

After it is found to exist, and we 

Are the instruments of a higher power 

To construct and mould its fitting apparel, 

While angels of light in our labors assist, 

Teaching us how to finish and polish 

Each link in its turn, by our deeds of 

Kindness, our words of love. These chains at the 

Base are large and coarse; but each succeeding 

Link grows smaller, and in texture more refined, 

As it reaches upward, and gathers from 

The surrounding atmosphere purer 

Elements for its construction. Higher 

And yet higher ascends this magnetic 

Chain, until, at length, ether ealized 

To us, it rises beyond our frail vision's 

Domain. One thing we do note, which is this : 

These spiritual chains, all alike on 

The start, become when wrought upon, widely 

Diverse in structure, form, size, and color. 

This may be attributed to the 

Executive ability, finance, 

Genius, or taste of the director. If 

The material is good, the work well 

Performed, each will serve the same end ; 

While each employee will receive, according 

To his or her labor, compensation 

Due ; if it be a mere mechanical 

Labor performed from necessity, no 

Good will accrue to the soul therefrom ; if 

The laborer be in pursuit of worldly 

Gain, and is actuated by selfish 

Motives alone, his reward will be of 

The earth earthy, " which perisheth with the 

Using. " If pride and ambition be the 

Ruling aim, the end is not far. But we 

Like not long to dwell upon these, we fain 

Would see all, from pureness of heart, engage 



8G THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

In labors of love for their dear Lord's sake ; 

And these are the labors which alone can 

Weave the bright golden chain we all may 

Covet, but few can possess. Its links are 

Composed of " faith, hope, charity," kept bright 

By " humility and holy zeal." Our 

Saviour perfected the first of this kind. 

It is still in existence, but, sad to 

Eelate, seldom used by those who claim its 

Sole right. Its links by neglect so tarnished 

Have grown, no stranger would guess its substance 

Were gold. There are upon earth chains which, though 

Less golden, are kept more bright by the 

Using. These chains will increase in numbers 

And strength, in spite of opposition and 

Scorn, till all the wide earth, from east unto 

West, from north unto south, resound with glad songs 

Of joy and of mirth, re-echoing far 

The news of their birth. 



Another letter, dear friends, from which we give the follow- 
ing:— 

" I have read your book carefully, interestedly, and I think I 
appreciate it for what it is. But I must insist upon one thing, and 
that is, that your own personality is clearly stamped upon it in 
almost every line, and I do not by any means give all the credit to 
your pastor's dictation. I love the spirit of the book, because it is 
the spirit of the Master, and think you make many things very 
plain to the inquiring mind. 

May Grod speed you in your labor of love in lighting up the 
dark places of earth, and bringing souls to a knowledge of the 
truth as it is most perfectly revealed to us in the perfect life of 
Jesus Christ. Many questions that used to puzzle me are all 
cleared up now ; for I find that it is — after all the controversies, 
dogmas, isms, and ites — contained in one little word, love, — love 
to God and love to men. I often wonder that people will persist 
in bothering themselves over vexed questions that avail nothing 
after they are all settled, when the truth is so simple that a little 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 87 

child may know it. God bless you and make you very useful, 
and give you physical and spiritual strength that you may lead 
others to the fountain of life." 



w We thank you, kind friend, for your loving God-speed. 
We feel to reply, since she upon earth 
Who for us hath done the best that she could 
Is unwilling to receive all the credit 
You give. Nor yet doth her pastor lay claim 
To it all, but begs to inform you he 
Is but one of four whose labors 
Have accomplished the work. If our book, as 
You say, breathes the spirit of the Master, 
And his teachings make plain to the inquiring 
Mind, it matters but little from whom they 
Go forth, if only received in the spirit 
Of love; for 'love is the fulfilling of 
The law.' In this, dear sister, we with you 
Agree, and pray the good Lord his blessings 
To shower on one who is with us in labors 
Of love, whose life is devoted to the 
Master's cause. May your influence be wide- 
Spread upon earth ; may the spirit power 
Conveyed through you, bear healing on its wings, 
And those intrusted to your care be not 
Only physically, but spiritually, 
Made whole. We deem you in wisdom by far 
Too advanced to vex your tired soul, or waste 
Precious time in studying out just mere 
Personalities, for such questionings 
'Avail nothing after they are all settled/ 
But for the benefit of those still young 
In the faith, we will say : The dictations 
Were given by three : one upon earth and 
Two in heaven. A fourth comes in, fulfilling 
Her part ; which part is, the arranging and 
Compiling portions of the same ; so, instead 



88 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Of one, 't will be seen we are four : one upon 
Earth, and three in heaven." 

Is this to be my home ? My dear Lord and 
Master, my kind spirit friends, draw near me, 
I pray, for hence have I come to the place 
Appointed by thee. O, wilt thou, dear ones, 
Thy purpose reveal ; for I am so blind 
It seemeth to me there 's naught I can do, 
In this wearisome wild, so barren and cold. 
The winds howl around, the rain cometh 
Down ; yet it may be that I, and I only, 
Am at fault. My spirit and my flesh are 
Both alike weak. The longer I live, the 
Farther I roam, the more do I see to 
Awake in my soul the need of 
Reform ; and this brings to mind a letter 
To which I 've just made reply ; its contents 
I '11 give you in part, knowing, as I well 
Do, the writer no objections would have. 

" Eeform (says he) is a noble work, but it must be performed 
by those who are strong in this world's goods, and who are com- 
pletely independent of all men. Are you fitted and prepared to 
wage a conflict with the world, and to make all sacrifices which 
you must of necessity make in waging war upon old-received 
religious opinions ? We can walk in the true way without com- 
pelling others to go with us, or, in plain English, we can set our- 
selves right and let others alone. I know that this is selfish : so 
is the world. Do all you can for humanity, make all sacrifices 
that you possibly can for others, and they will turn round and 
smite you. We cannot go back ; that, as you say, is impossible : 
but you have no call to crush your own life in trying to help those 
who scorn help, and who would turn and heap abuse upon those 
who would aid them. Our first duty is to ourselves. The strug- 
gle that we have been called upon to engage in is nothing com- 
pared to that which must eventually come if we continue to do 
battle with the world. Of course, if we learn the truth ourselves, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 89 

and keep silence, this will be avoided ; but if we give our opinions, 
the result must follow. Outside of purely religious matters, stand 
women's rights, social freedom, free love, and many more ques- 
tions, and I tell you, you are drifting towards them ' (perhaps 
unconsciously). Are you willing ? Do you feel strong enough to 
engage in the battle ? 

Your life ought to be a smooth, happy one, devoid of all men- 
tal troubles. Such it cannot be if you persist in waging war against 
accepted opinions. I would not lead you one hair's breadth from 
your duty; but yourself ought to be your first care. 'Be wise as 
serpents, harmless as doves/ We have no need to make any very 
great effort in the cause of truth ; it will triumph, it needs only 
time ; it will come to the minds of men only as men's minds ex- 
pand to receive it. We cannot force great truths into small, 
dwarfed minds. Therefore the young in our schools, and the 
conditions in which our race are brought into existence, are mat- 
ters of vital importance. We have nothing to fear. All things 
are governed and controlled by immutable law." 

I thank you, kind brother and friend, for your 

Tender, solicitous care. I acknowledge 

The truth of much you have said. I also 

Believe that much may be done to further 

The progress of truth upon earth. In the 

Minds of all, be they ever so dwarfed, exists 

The embryo of future enlightenment. 

If left to itself long dormant it lies ; 

If awaked by a dart from the arrow 

Of truth, the possessors of the same may, 

It is true, turn and rend the messenger 

Of love ; but, nevertheless, the work is 

Begun. Their slumbers are broken ; they may 

Lay them down, they may fold their hands and 

Cry from their hearts, " O, a little more sleep, 

A little more slumber ! " Their sleep has 

Departed, their idle dreams fled, and naught 

Can they do but think, think, think ; and the more 

They do think, the more will their minds expand 



90 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And enlarge. The work will go on, slowly 
And unconsciously at first, it may be, 
But sure in the end as the law which 
Governs the same. 

" If we give our opinions, 
The result must follow." Sad experience 
Hath this me taught. Yet not unconsciously 
Have I been drifting, nor, as I believe, 
. Without a safe Pilot to guide my frail 
Bark, and anchor to cast on that beautiful 
Shore where war wages not and the weary 
Find rest. 

"We cannot go back — " O, no, O, no ! 
And who would desire it ? Of all the dear 
Spirits who have spoken to me from their 
Home in the skies, not one has expressed a 
Wish to come back and live once again upon 
Earth. 



" We can walk in the true way without compelling others to go 
with us." Quite right, my friend: ; compulsion is useless, as all 
will find who endeavor to preach or to teach the true way. Time 
was when I thought by gentle persuasion some might be led ; but 
even that I am forced now to doubt. I have long since ceased 
my views to express unsolicited, I have refrained from the out- 
pouring of my heart as the spirit gave utterance, save in writings, 
which of course could not be enforced upon any. 

" Our first duty is to ourselves." And what, dear friend, of our 
duty to our neighbor ? My Catechism teaches this : " To love 
my neighbor as myself, and to do unto all men as I would that 
they should do unto me." If we strive to do this, the minor con- 
siderations will follow, in course. Included in the same catechis- 
mal answer is the following : " To submit myself to all my gov- 
ernors, teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters." This, also, I am 
willing to do, but shall claim the right and privilege of choosing 
my own teachers, spiritual pastors, and masters. 

"Are you willing ? Do you feel strong enough to engage in 
the battle ? " This inquiry recalls to my memory some beautiful 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 91 

and expressive lines penned for me by a very dear friend, at a 
time when I was " sore let and hindered." I trust you will excuse 
me for inserting them here : — 

" Lean hard, child of my love, lean hard, and let 
Me feel the pressure of thy care. I know 
Thy burden, child. I shaped it, poised it in 
My own hand, made no proportion in its 
"Weight to thine unaided strength ; for even 
As I laid it on, I said, ' I shall be 
Near, and while she leans on me this burden 
Shall be mine, not hers : so shall I keep my 
Child within the circling arms of mine own 
Love.' Here lay it down, nor fear to impose 
It on a shoulder which upholds the 
Government of worlds. Yet closer come, thou 
Art not near enough ; I would embrace thy 
Care, so I might feel my child reposing 
On my breast. Thou lovest me ? I know it ; 
Doubt not then ; but loving me, lean hard." 

" The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak." I feel at 
times, friend, that the battle with me will soon be o'er. I look 
not for reward in temporal gifts. The years allotted to mortals 
below are threescore and ten. The first half and more did I 
spend in serving the world. I mean not by this that I was wholly 
devoid of motives beyond ; but my labors unceasing were sordid 
and mercenary. I received, of course, the equivalent which these 
did demand. My health was impaired by my own folly and ig- 
norance. At length came a change, to me a glorious one. I 
shall ever regard it as the new and spiritual birth of the soul. 

In the two short years which have since elapsed, my labors, 
however insignificant, have been of a different character. I have 
endeavored to serve my dear Lord and Master in his own appointed 
way. I have chosen wliom I will serve. My pastors and my 
teachers are not of this world. Yet in one respect they differ 
not: I have ever been subject to authority, — being a subordinate, 
— and have learned that the employee, to give satisfaction, must 
work according to the will and direction of his or her employer. 
Our spiritual teachers make the same requirements ; and though 
ofttimes their " ways are not as our ways," it behoveth us to sub- 
ject ourselves entirely to their will and pleasure, who have a far 
higher knowledge and conception of the result to be obtained. 

" The young in our schools, and the conditions in which our 



92 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

race are brought into existence, are matters of vital importance." 
They are truly so, nor do we pass them by. It hath been ours 
unto the first of these to daily minister, and, in so doing, little 
time or opportunity has been given for our own advancement in 
spiritual knowledge, especially as we are prohibited all reading of 
a deep or instructive character. An enlightenment as to the con- 
ditions in which our race are or should be brought into existence, 
seems not to come within our sphere at the present time. We 
possess a general knowledge of the same, but are unprepared to 
give the subject the consideration its importance demands. 

" Reform is a noble work, but it must be performed by those 
who are strong in this world's goods." In one sense of the word 
this is true. Our bodies must be sustained, or we can do nothing. 
Were it not for this, methinks the noble work would speed on 
wings of love. 

In my experience, however, I have found more zealous hearts and 
willing minds among the poor in this world's goods than among the 
rich ; it may not be the experience of all. But we must not forget, 
dear brother, the "cup of cold water" given in the Master's 
name. We read how Apostle Peter went up into the temple at 
the hour of prayer, and saw there at the gate of the temple called 
Beautiful, a certain man lame from his mother's womb ; " and fas- 
tening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he 
gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none ; but such as I have 
give I unto thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise 
up and walk." Such as we have can we give ; it may be but the 
" widow's mite," yet who can tell the good it may do ? 

" There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing : there 
is that maketh himself poor yet hath great riches." 

So now you will see, my brother and friend, 
Your doubts and your fears on my account 
Are groundless and vain. I cannot go fast, 
I cannot go far. If friends do forsake, 
There 's One ever near, to Him will I pray, 
So long as God giveth me breath. 

" 0, send out thy light and thy truth : let them lead me ; let 
them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacle. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 93 

Then will I go unto the altar of my God, unto God my ex- 
ceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, God, my 
God. 

Why art thou cast down, my soul ? and why art thou dis- 
quieted within me ? Hope in God : for I shall yet praise him, 
who is the help of my countenance and my God." 

A friend thus writes : — 

"I thank you much for your Christmas gift. We have all read 
it, and were quite interested. Have lent it out, and there are two 
more waiting to read it. But don't natter yourself that we shall 
all be converted to your belief, although the lady who has it now 
says she has had to fight herself to keep from believing it. As for 
myself, I have no desire to study into these things ; do not believe 
I should be any happier myself, or make my friends here any 
happier; and 

* Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise.' " 

Our thanks, kind friend, for your candor and truth ; 

Yourself can judge far better than we 

What studies and labors will give you just 

Now the greatest amount of happiness 

And peace ; we feel that your heart is right 

Within, that much you have done, are doing 

Still for humanity's sake, in your own 

Quiet way ; that way is not ours to choose 

Or direct ; yet some things we know which you 

Have not learned. There are with thee daily, kind 

Spirits and true, who help and sustain you 

When tempted and tried ; they long have watched o'er 

You and done what they could your burdens to 

Lighten, your sorrows to heal : your life has 

Been brightened by their minist'ring love, though 

All unconscious it may be to you. 

We would ask thee to retrace the years of 

Thy life, when lonely and sad thou wandered, 

As one bereft of all that earth for thee 

Held dear. Thy loving ones passed on before 



94 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Knew not the way, more than did you of 

Coming back ; therefore when sorrows deepest 

Were upon thee, not one was near to wipe 

Away the burning tear, or whisper comfort 

To thy sinking heart. These since have learned those 

Mysteries in part, though slow and toilsome 

Have their labors been. Would ye know why 

Their progress hath in this been slow ? Because, 

Dear friend, their loved ones below have " no desire 

To study into these things " ; unaided 

And alone, so far as earth help is concerned, 

Must they fight their way ; unwilling are they 

To tread on to brighter fields and fairer 

Joys, lest the distance 'tween them and those they 

Still hold dear on earth become so great, they 

Must " for aye " remain apart : so still these 

Loving ones do wait and work, their task oft- 

Times a thankless one ; this task, which now to 

Them is hard, would soon become an easy 

One if shared by thee. As we before have 

Said, you have exclusive right your ways of 

Happiness to choose ; your earthly friends to 

Strive and please. Can you stop here ? In justice 

Nay ; for one of the holy Trinity 

Would be left out. First person I, second 

Person you, and third person he, she, or 

It. He, the God who formed and made you live, 

Demands of thee acknowledgment. She, thy 

Mother, and others so called dead, yet living 

Still, would ask to share thy kind remembrance, 

And sometimes to commune with thee. It, the 

Principle of truth and right, though here we 

Give it as the last, in time will grow to 

Be with thee and thine the first. " Where ignorance 

Is bliss 'tis folly to be wise," say you ; 

Say we, "A perpetuity of bliss 

Alone is bliss" 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 95 

Of your friend who "has had to fight herself to keep from 
believing it/' we know nothing. She has doubtless read of the 
conversion of one whose name was " Saul," who made havoc of 
the church and imprisoned many, " breathing out threatenings and 
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." Hot content with 
this, he journeyed toward Damascus, having before desired let- 
ters of the high-priest, " that if he found any of this way, whether 
they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jeru- 
salem." But a Priest yet higher he found by the way, as round 
about him suddenly shined a light from heaven. He fell to the 
earth, while a voice said, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? 
And he said, Who art thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am 
Jesus whom thou persecutest : it is hard for thee to Icicle against 
the pricks" 

Saul then doth ask what the Lord will have him to do ; and 
the Lord saith, " Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told 
thee what thou must do." He arose and opened his eyes, but lo ! 
he was blind. He who went boldly forth to bind God's chosen 
people, weak and trembling was led by the hand to his place of 
destination, and for three days and nights could neither eat, 
drink, or sleep. During this time he had a vision, as did also one 
other who was to him a stranger, but a disciple of the Lord, whose 
name was Ananias. 

" And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street 
which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for 
one called Saul, of Tarsus ; for, behold, he prayeth. 

And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias, coming in 
and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 

Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of 
this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jeru- 
salem : 

And how he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all 
that call upon thy name. 

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way : for he is a chosen 
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, 
and the children of Israel : 

For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my 
name's sake. 

And Ananias went his way and entered into the house; and 
putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even 



96 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath 
sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
the Holy Ghost. 

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been 
scales : and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was bap* 
tized." 

'Tis the first day of spring, so saith our calendar ; 
It must be so, yet how unlike what we 
In our day-dreams have pictured forth in this 
Bright sunny southern clime ; the day is dark 
And gloomy, the sky o'erspread with clouds, the 
Winds are bleak and chill, the icy rain comes 
Down amain, no song or chirp of bird we 
Hear, nor do we scent the breath of sweet spring 
Flowers ; all above, around, below, seems 
Cheerless, dark, and cold. O, who can tell what 
A day may bring forth ? But yesterday the sun 
Its genial light and warmth poured forth in 
Radiant streams of love divine ; all nature 
Seemed alive with songs of gratitude and 
Mirth. Ah, what truthful type of life below ! 
One day our faith and trust seem anchored firm, 
The next by adverse winds they 're shaken ; these 
Adverse winds no power have we to govern 
Or control ; the ready heart, the willing mind, 
Grows faint and weary with delay ; we grope 
In darkness because of our unbounded 
Ignorance, which each day becomes more visible, 
More lamentable ; by night we are tortured 
With dreams or visions, we scarce can tell which. 
We find ourselves in the midst of a throng of kind 
Earthly friends, — friends to ourselves we mean, yet 
Enemies to the cause we uphold ; they 
Gather about us, they shoot from afar. 
Their darts harm us not at first, we are 
Strong and brave, standing well our ground ; but as 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 97 

The combat deepens, the arrows fly thick, 
And — what are we among many ? Our courage 
Palters, our strength is failing fast, we look 
For some to help us, and — awake. 

Sleep comes 
Again at length ; another scene presents 
Itself, one which earth mortals ne'er beheld ; 
A private home was our resort, though many 
"Were assembled there from highest to the 
" Low-down black." All came with same intent, each 
Heart open to receive the truth ; there seemed 
A place for all, and each to know and fill 
His or her place undisturbed : for the home 
Had many apartments. The assemblage 
Was mostly composed of " freshmen " in the 
Spiritual kingdom, and this was their 
First public meeting. Little was accomplished 
On this occasion except to harmonize 
The several groups by music and song. 

Again we awake, and this time 't is morning. But enough of 
this, for here comes a letter which may give us something more 
interesting. 

Extract. 
" How I wonld like to see you to-night and talk over matters 
and things with you, it is such a slow way to converse, — this 
writing ! Your hand must have ached many times while writing 
that book. I do not think the book has been carefully read ; it 
is not understood, as you say. It needs much study to see into 
it. We do not see anything so very wicked in it (as others do)^; 
but somehow I do not believe in the spiritual mediums. I do not 
see anything in the Gospel to correspond with a medium, except 
the 'Lord Jesus': he was our Mediator and Saviour. To be 
sure, the 'angel of the Lord' appeared unto many, but does 
not seem to me through a medium. I believe, dear, that every 
word that you say in reference to it is the truth, so far as 
your understanding goes. There must be a power that impresses 



98 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

you some way, and I cannot see that you are any the worse for it. 
You are in your right mind, are n ? t you ? {Crazy, they call you.) 

B is awfully down on your book, and H— — keeps hers locked 

up. I told Mrs. you had been writing a book. She wished 

to read it, so I lent her mine. She said it was the best work she 
had ever read on that subject. She is a great reader; also, we 
have always supposed, a sincere Christian. 

May I ask you, do you hold any converse with spirits gone be- 
fore without the assistance of a medium ? Do you have any reve- 
lations now while you are away ? If so, it seems as if you would 
hear from us up here, — our thoughts and feelings, if they are 
known." 

Beloved child, what you say in regard to spiritual mediums 
does not surprise us in the least ; but I think we can perhaps 
explain to you in part. We do not, it is true, in the Bible see the 
word " medium " applied as in spiritual writings of the present day ; 
but if we have the right understanding, the word " gift " as there 
used has the same interpretation as " phase " with us. " Diversity 
of gifts " is no more nor less than diversity of phases of medium- 
ship ; and there is a. phase of the same corresponding precisely with 
each separate gift there mentioned, as well as some minor phases 
which are not mentioned. Jesus Christ, our great mediator, pos- 
sessed all of these phases in a high degree of perfection. Among 
his apostles, as St. Paul tells us, these gifts were distributed. We 
should infer from reading the chapter that only one gift was pos- 
sessed by any one individual ; but as we find many of them exer- 
cised more than that, we take it as a general term of expression ; 
each one doubtless had a gift which was his specialty, as do our 
mediums of the present day ; for believe me, friend, every inspired 
writer, apostle, and prophet, who took part in the construction of 
the Bible, was a medium, whether so called or not. One of the 
most "eminent divines of the Orthodox church," tioelve years 
ago, after holding his audience spellbound through a long and 
eloquent discourse on the inspiration of St. Paul, paused and qui- 
etly said, " I suppose many of you have already asked how the 
inspiration of St. Paul differed from the inspiration of modern 
spiritual mediums ; for the day has long since passed when any 
candid and thinMng mind would doubt the claims of modern 
mediums to special influx." And then he said : " / ansiver that 
the inspiration of the modem mediums is precisely like the inspi- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 99 

ration of Paul ; the only difference being that the inspiration of 
Paul ivas by authority, and that of the modern medium is with- 
out authority." As to the phases of mediumship, inspirational 
is one of the highest, corresponding to the "gift" " word of wis- 
dom." Impressional is another, corresponding to " word of 
knowledge." These phases, which are often combined in one 
person, are given directly to that person by the controlling spirit ; 
therefore requiring no assistance from any other medium. This 
class embraces our writers and speakers of the present day as it 
did in former times. And many of our most able and intelligent 
orators are thus inspired, unconsciously to themselves ; while oth- 
ers not a few, who are conscious of the gift they possess as well 
as the source from which their power is derived, remain incog, 
from policy. We give an instance of the latter as follows. A 
friend writes : — 

" On one occasion I was struck with the report of a sermon by 
a very orthodox man, given by a parishioner, and called on his 
pastor, then in an Eastern city, and now far West ; and as soon 
as he found I was a Christian Spiritualist, he told me that both 
he and his wife were mediums, and to that he owed his popularity 
(which was very great). 

' I would not deny it/ he said, ' but I do not feel called upon to 
parade it before the world, when it would lessen my influence to 
promote the spread of that truth which this development is de- 
signed to establish.' " 

These phases of mediumship, which are really the most satis- 
factory to an aspiring mind, are also very common. The other 
phases all have their uses, as did the different gifts. " But all 
these worketh one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man 
severally as he will." As there are many different gifts, so are 
there many different classes of minds to enlighten and instruct ; 
while one of these gifts might be an eye-opener to one, it would 
produce not the slightest effect upon another possessing different 
qualities of mind and heart. Take yourself, for example : imme- 
diately upon the perusal of our book, which (if we mistake not) 
was the first you had ever read of that character, you were con- 
vinced that some power outside of the medium directed her efforts. 
Now let me ask you if, had you witnessed another phase, table- 
tipping, for instance, it would have produced the same effect upon 
your mind? I think not. While many another person, who 



100 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

would consider the book mere trash, and would not waste their 
time in reading a work of this character, if they should see a table 
or chair jump around the room by the laying on of their hands, 
would be in rapturous glee, instantaneously convinced that there 
must be " something in it," and perhaps be led to search out the 
matter. There are, I am sorry to say, those who, even after they 
perceive the truth of these things, have no desire to progress, and 
therefore never get beyond these low orders of physical manifesta- 
tions ; while others advance step by step from lower to higher ; 
many, even at the outset, commencing on a higher plane of 
development than some who have been slowly progressing for years. 

We doubt if there are any possessing the higher phases of me- 
diumship who do not also possess some of 'the lower ones which 
may be called into action when occasion requires for the benefit 
. of those whom the higher ones would outreach ; but they have no 
need to use them in their own behalf, finding "a far more exceed- 
ing and eternal weight of glory" in the first mentioned. This is, 
to us, conclusive reason why these orders of mediumship are less 
traceable in both the ancient and modern inspired writings. It 
is also the reason why we chose to dwell more especially upon 
these in our former work, which was intended for beginners. Ad- 
vanced Spiritualists would regard it as a mere primer. 

The trance phase gives good satisfaction to many, and the evi- 
dence is truthful and conclusive under the right conditions ; but 
these are not always available. Therefore what is given through 
the organism of these mediums is but as grains of sand on the 
sea-shore compared to what we carl give impressionally. We also 
give much in dreams or visions, and symbols. These you will find 
are scattered in profusion throughout the sacred writings. You 
will also find, upon a close examination of the Old Testament, 
that the kings and nearly all of the celebrated characters men- 
tioned therein had recourse to magicians, astrologers {mediums 
i. e.), and that their supply of wisdom and power was derived — 
either directly or indirectly — from the spirit world. The Magi, 
or wise men from the East, in our Saviour's time, were also me- 
diums. You will recollect that our Saviour said, " I have many 
y^things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." To his 
apostles and immediate followers he said, " The works that I do 
shall ye do also" ; and they did them, never knowing themselves 
how or why, except that the power was given them from on high. 



THE UNHEALED BOOK. 101 

Philosophy and science have since been at work, and for the past 
few years their strides have been rapid toward the attainment of 
knowledge regarding the fixed laws of nature which govern and 
control all things. " Spirit intercourse and its true philosophy 
is now known and believed in by many millions of the present 
generation, including the most eminent and. enlightened minds of 
the world, — in fact, no others can have a perfect intellection of 
its philosophy, — many of whom not only believe, but know, not 
from high-wrought feelings of excitement, intense orgasm, or 
contagious sympathy, which religious converts experience, but 
with cool, positive demonstration of science and absolute knowl- 
edge." 

Whether our medium is in her right mind or not, " judge ye." 
"We should not count her a true disciple if her works and ways 
were not such as to elicit terms of reproach from some of her 
MOEE " ceazy " friends ; but when they all get crazy, we '11 have 
a good time together. 

May God bless you, dear child, and strengthen your good en- 
deavors. We might convey some of your thoughts southward, for 
we can both read and impress you to some extent, but it is not 
our mission to "tell tales out of school." (Controlling spirit.) 

Kext morning. 

Darling, I believe I must add a postscript, for somehow it 
seems to me this letter was the means or measures used by a " higher 
Power " to prevent the destruction of property, if not to preserve 
life. I attended a concert last evening given by a blind girl. 
When I came home it was rather early to retire, so I commenced 
penning the reply to your letter. 

After I had done so I could not seem to leave it until finished, 
which took me into the " wee small hours " of the night. It was 
a very unusual and seemingly foolish thing for me to do like this, 
as I had plenty of time for writing you to-day. 

When I was through I went to the window and saw near the 
back piazza quite a blaze of fire, which proceeded from an ash- 
barrel, probably kindling from live coals or sparks left in the 
ashes. There was a sort of form covered with dry boards near, 
one end of which had already caught fire. If this had not been 
discovered, the house must shortly have been in flames. There 
were others immediately adjoining, and I believe (as the lady of 



102 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

the house herself said) the whole block of buildings would have 
been consumed. There was a gentle breeze at the time, which 
soon arose to quite a gale of wind. The family were quietly 
sleeping in another part of the house, which is a large one, and 
the " head of the family" was away from home. As I have told 
you before, this is a small town, and they have no facilities for 
extinguishing fires. 

I will here insert one of the songs of the blind girl, sung with 
Sweet, pathetic tones. The words are simple (as was the music), 
yet so comprehensive, so comforting and encouraging. 

"In some way or other the Lord will provide : 
It may not be my way, 
It may not be thy way, 
And yet in his own way 

The Lord will provide. 

At some time or other the Lord will provide : 
It may not be my time, 
It may not be thy time, 
And yet in his own time 

The Lord will provide. 

Despond then no longer, the Lord will provide : 
And this be the token, — 
No word he hath spoken 
"Was ever yet broken ; 

The Lord will provide. 

March on then right boldly, the sea shall divide, 
The path be made glorious 
With shoutings victorious, 
"We '11 join in the chorus, 

The Lord will provide," 



" All things are ready, begin thy appointed 

Task." These words keep ringing in mine ears ; from 

Whom they come, for what purpose they are sent, 

I know not ; I place them here and wait. Ask 

Ye for what I wait ? For further light, for 

Wisdom more to come ; my daily food is 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 103 

I 

Spent, I hunger, thirst for more ; how long, O 
Lord, have I to wait ? and what may be the 
Task thou hast for me ? O, make it plain I 
Pray ! for I am ready, I am waiting. 

"As a sheep before its shearers is dumb,' 

So they opened not their mouths. Two months 

Ago and more our little book went forth ; 

It was our care that our people, dwellers 

Of my native town, should be first served. We 

Labored zealously at the last, fearing the 

Issue of our book would be too late for 

" Christmas gift." Some there we sent on sale, 

Others as souv'nirs. Were they in time ? 

We know not, neither can we tell the day 

Or the hour of their debut ; this much we 

Do know, they were duly sent : weeks afterward 

We incidentally did hear they reached 

Their destination. How were they received ? 

Time's tongue must tell if e'er it gets unloosed ; 

No soul from there has yet vouchsafed to us 

A "thank you," much less, a kind " God speed" : we 

Comprehend not why these same do hold their 

Peace in just this way. Solomon the Wise 

Did say : " Even a fool, when he holdeth 

His peace, is counted wise." But this cannot 

To these apply. Our people we have oft 

Been told were a conservative people. 

Be this as it may, we know them to be 

An intelligent and well-read people, 

Therefore we think the reason of their silence 

Must be this : " The heart of the righteous 

Studieth to answer." May we not hope 

To receive from their mouths words which shall be 

As deep waters ; and from their wellspring of 

Wisdom, thoughts which shall refresh the soul as 

A flowing brook ? 



104 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

We have been debating within ourselves as to which is the most 
beneficial in its results to mankind, — active ignorance or passive 
knowledge. 

Our decision is in favor of the former ; which, although it is 
terrible to combat, gives an opportunity of development, both to 
the possessor and to the recipient or recipients of his wis- 
dom ( ! ). While passive knowledge bears no fruit outside its owe 
individual capacity. Its possessor may be wise in his own con- 
ceit, but has not reached even the " alpha " of true wisdom. Let 
us pray for the days of enlightenment and freshening to come, 
when we shall have only passive ignorance to contend with, which 
will be easily uprooted by the true wisdom of those possessing 
active knowledge combined with love of truth. 

" Speak of angels and you will hear the flutter of their wings, " 
contains more truth than poetry sometimes. Two letters have 
come from inhabitants of our town : the first, whose wellspring 
of wisdom has been so long pent, gushes forth : — 

" I have felt I could not say one word of my thoughts to you, 
whom I felt were sincere, doing what you believed was for the 
cause of right and good. When any one has asked my opinion, I 
have invariably replied, that I did ' not wish to discuss the book.' 
One objection which had weight with me in this has been, that 
if spirits controlled you to write, — as you believe, — they ought 
to be able, if they have advanced in their life beyond, to write in 
a style superior to our lest writers here. I do not think the 
rhythm and harmony of the verse at all to be compared with that 
of our first-class writers ; and the comment that forces itself is, 
if they cannot do better, it would be to their credit not to make 
the attempt." 

Reply. 

" Show me him who never changes his opinions, never learns, 
never progresses, and I'll show you a fool who morally stands 
still and vegetates like any other tree, on whom a just God should 
not force immortality against his will. 'He who cannot rea- 
son is a fool; he who dare not reason is a coward; who will 
not reason is a bigot ; but show to me him who can and does 
reason, and I '11 show you a man,' and a progressive man, and, if 
honest, the highest type of God's mundane works. 

All things are not possible with God. He cannot possibly 
make heat and cold, light and darkness, coexist together; nor 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 105 

any two things antagonistic harmonize, or occupy the same place 
at the same time. He cannot make a two-year-old, anything, in 
•an hour, — to use an inelegant and rather uncouth phrase, but in 
point full of potential significance; you will pardon me, I am 
after the truth, if I have to get it in vulgar garb ; I seek the 
jewel, if I have to dig it from dirty rubbish ; if he could, then 
there is no excuse or reason why he does not make the high and 
happy angel of a century's development, immediately upon the cre- 
ation of poor, miserable man, as fabled Minerva sprang, full 
fledged, from the brain of Jove." 

Our second letter contains the following : — 

" I hope the time will come when we can see and believe more 
alike ; you know I have a good many cares and anxieties, with so 
many children to try and help do for." 

" The time will come, is coming day by day, hour by hour, and 
even now thou art not wide apart, as we who read thine inmost 
soul discern. Thy cares and anxieties have been, still are, nu- 
merous ; yea, thou hast done, still art doing for thy children, thine 
own dear ones, more than thy most exalted imagination has ever 
pictured or dreamed ; more, a hundred-fold more, than the artifi- 
cial observer who might accuse thee of doing too little. Thou 
hast ploughed deep in the soil of their hearts ; the seed hath not 
only been well sown, but hath been watered and tended with care, 
nurtured in the warm sunshine of thy affectionate love. This 
seed hath taken deep root, is firmly stranded in the soil, and some 
e'en now is bearing fruit. Thy harvest shall be plenteous, thy 
garners well filled, and filled with good grain. 

Then courage, brother ! Let not your heart be troubled, neither 
let it be afraid, for all with thee is well. Who only stirs the sur- 
face of the soil may sooner reap, but not to perfection, for some will 
by the midday's burning heat be scorched; other some the chill- 
ing, searching winds of reality and adversity may blast and uproot. 

Thy life hath been one of vicissitude and seeming unrest. Yet 
these very changes have developed, enlightened, educated your 
mentality, which, though unpretending and unobtrusive, stands 
high in the region of thought and good understanding. Then 
fear thou not, but go on thy way rejoicing, assured by us that not 
only thy children, but thy children's children, for generations to 
come, shall ' arise up and call thee blessed.' " 



106 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

THOUGHTS 

SUGGESTED BY A CONVERSATION WITH THE BLIND GIRL. 

So quiet, gentle, guileless too, she seemed, 

Her trust reposing all in Him, who, as 

Her sweetest song bespoke, will for his 

Children dear provide in his " own time," in 

His " own way." She could not mourn the loss 

Of sight, for sight — except the inward vision 

Pure — she ne'er had known ; but this to her had 

Been vouchsafed wondrously clear, in other 

Words, she had a tender angel guide who 

Never left unless another one her 

Kept in charge ; she knew this not, although she 

Had no fears for herself, travelling from place 

To place continually with no accompanying 

Earthly guide or protector, alleging 

That her very misfortune was to her 

A safeguard and protection, eliciting 

From those with whom she came in contact both 

Sympathy and kindness. With childlike 

Simplicity she asked if any could 

Her tell, how it was that she could a person's 

Presence sense, without from them the slightest sound 

Or perceptible movement ; and then she says, 

" If a person stares at me I feel it : 

If a person speaks to me I Jcnow their 

Character at once, my first impression 

Of them is always correct." These things she 

Knew, though not by outward vision ; of the 

Angel presence she knew nothing, although 

It did her sweetest, holiest songs inspire ; 

But she in time will these things also learn. 

"I have," she said, "met and conversed with some 

Spiritualists, and they seemed so happy, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 107 

So cheerful." Yes, sister, and we would that 
All our happiness might share ; in some way 
Or other, at some time or other, they 
Must, they will, for " no word He hath spoken 
Was ever yet broken." He "will provide." 

We might go further and say, He has provided the way. In 
confirmation of this, we give an extract from Kembert's " Philos- 
ophy of Life." We have already quoted a little from this deep- 
toned and most excellent work, and may do so more in future. 

"Now in view of all the facts and truths I have presented, espe- 
cially considering the great developments of late scientific research 
in the domain of mind, the universal ethereal medium through 
which mind acts upon mind at any distance and without any 
obstruction, when minds are in rapport with each other, is it not 
a wonder that deceased spirit friends, if they be really living, do 
not thus communicate with some of us in the flesh, with whom 
they may come in rapport ? Is n't it a wonder that excarnated 
human spirits don't see and communicate with us incarnated 
spirits through this same universal electro-ethereal medium 
through which we communicate with one another on this rudi- 
ment al earth plane ? 

When men in the flesh have learned to use this mystic medium 
by putting themselves in and assuming that necessary negative 
condition of perfect passivity and receptivity, is it not a wonder 
that those out of the flesh, if still in existence, do not then mani- 
fest themselves to us through this same medium of the many 
millions on both sides of such various electric temperaments? 
And when we also consider that some, in all ages of mankind, 
have had such mysterious manifestations without understanding 
them, is it not a wonder indeed that our spirit friends in the 
spirit spheres do not now manifest themselves intelligibly to us 
with our present progressed facilities ? As we have learned the 
lightning and lettered its sheets, and thus attest our immortality 
and their felicity ? The science of mind and electricity has 
reached that point that we must expect, nay, must have, such 
communications from our friends who have gone before, or else 
conclude forever that they live no more. For spirit here can now 
communicate with spirit unimpeded by flesh, distance, or any 



108 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

other obstacle ; and some of those eliminated spirits who have 
left the body can communicate through the same universal me- 
dium to some of us yet in the body in unison with them; there- 
fore if they do not, now communicate, we are bound to believe 
they live no more, but died and perished with their bodies. But 
cease these wonders, dry your tears, dispel your doubts, linger no 
longer your patient expectations, for list, ye tenants of the tomb ! 
Hear it, and feel a new glory thrill your vital being of your mor- 
tal body, ye prisoned spirits of the mouldering urn ! The glori- 
ous truth and the glorious proof of your immortal life and 
immortal love hath sounded its glorious symphonies upon your 
sombre shores ! The glorious reality has come, the mighty and 
momentous truth in lights of supernal splendor has blazed upon 
the world. Just at the time when science leads us to look for it 
and must have it, or bury our hopes and loves in the grave for- 
ever, the grand and glorious fact comes careering on the wings 
of the wind, ay, on the lightning's pinion, with angelic anthems. 
And 0, what a fact, what a truth, is this we have learned in our 
favored nineteenth century ! Every pulsation of our corporeal, 
and every vital vibration of our spiritual heart should beat, 
throughout the infinite future, glory to our Creator. 

That was a grand event in the pages of the past, when Colum- 
bus pictured a new and unknown continent on the map of the 
world ; but this new continent, like the old, is filled with the bit- 
terness of death and blasted hopes. 

That was a proud period for man when the printing-press leaped 
forth from the mind of Faust and Guttenburg to spread knowl- 
edge broadcast among the nations, and render her springs imper- 
ishable; but its reflected lights never reached beyond the dim 
horizon around us. ' 

That was an epoch in the chronology of time when Christ stood 
forth and proclaimed immortal life to the good and true ; but he 
only proclaimed the truth, and left the world still in the darkness 
of doubt. And that was sublime when he illustrated his life in 
his glorious death, and was lost to mortal vision in the brightness 
of his empyreal sphere ; but the splendor of his illustration grows 
dim in the distance, and the glory of his ascension is believed by 
few and known to none. But all these grand events and epochs 
of the past grow pale before the luminous effulgence of this new- 
risen sun of science which is now illuminating the world of mind. 



THE UNSEATED BOOK. 109 

They sink into insignificance beside the gathered glories of this 
new apocalypse which is brightening into bliss the sorrows and 
sufferings of earth's dying children. Not with meek proclama- 
tion, nor prond preaching, nor pompons declamation on futile 
faith, but based on philosophy, with absolute demonstration and 
certainty of science, this grand and mighty truth, so long dark, 
dormant, and unknown, has leaped into light, life, and knowl- 
edge, and already warms the hearts of its enlightened millions, 
soothing their sorrows, easing their agonies, and binding the glory 
of immortality around their loye. 

That Jesus was a most perfect harmonic man, with the highest 
spiritual endowments, it is only necessary to state, for those who 
even doubt these transcendent merits, that from the Acta Pilati 
transmitted to Rome, Tiberias Caesar, the emperor, was influenced 
to suggest to the Senate the propriety of admitting him among 
the number of gods, and sent his own prerogative vote, in favor 
of the measure. But Jesus was not our God and Creator, for all 
this and much more, for all his splendid perceptions, and wonder- 
ful revelations, and apocalypse and exalted practices ; he was our 
great, gifted, spiritualized brother of humanity, and illustrious 
exemplar of social life. But Jesus is worshipped as a God, or 
rather the God ; yet he says, ' Why callest thou me good ? There 
is none good but one, that is God.' 'Thou shall worship the 
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' That there is but 
one God, and he is in heaven, that it is not his to give, but his 
father's, etc. 

The splendid Milton is so often cited as the pink of Protestant 
orthodoxy, that I should mention here his posthumous state pa- 
pers, published in 1823, prove him to have become decidedly 
Arian in his opinions on this point; that the character of Jesus 
was moulded in the most perfect model of human nature, the 
beauty, harmony, and symmetry of his proportions constituting 
the most perfect paragon of humanity that ever existed, but not 
God. And what sensible scientific man of this day can believe 
otherwise ? Milton lived a century ahead of his contemporaries." 

" And it came to pass that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul 
having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus : and 
finding certain disciples, 

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye 



110 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

believed ? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard 

whether there be any Holy Ghost. 

/^knd he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized ? 

/And they said, Unto John's baptism. 

/ Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of re- 
pentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him 
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the 
Lord Jesus. 
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost 

\ came on them ; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied" 

We would ask if this doth not verify the statement previously 
made concerning Christ's followers (doing the works which he 
did, scarce knowing how or why) ? Their own words proving 
that they not even knew that there was a Holy Ghost (or spirits, 
if you please, which, as we endeavored to make plain in our for- 
mer work, bear the same interpretation). " But the Comforter, 
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, 
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remem- 
brance, whatsoever I have said unto you." We would also ask if 
this truth is not becoming more manifest, and our Saviour's glo- 
rious teachings more luminous and grand, as brought to remem- 
brance, explained and elucidated by the bright progressive spirits 
"gone before"? 

This from the letter of a very dear friend : — 

"I know your book will be read and appreciated by many. 

Cousin spent a night with us last week. He was looking 

over the titles of our books, and I called his attention to yours. 
He immediately took it and began to read, and got so much inter- 
ested that he read the greater part of it before he left. He ex- 
pressed himself as much pleased with many of the ideas contained 
in it, though I believe he is an Adventist, or at least he used to 
be. He thought that part of the book which portrayed the pub- 
lic sentiment in regard to Elizabeth Tilton as compared with 
Beecher, especially good ; also that in regard to the laws of divorce 
and property as applied to woman and to man. Your book will 
do its work, and a good work too." 

Whether Adventist, Spiritualist, or Komanist by name, it mat- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. Ill 

ters not, if the understanding be quickened to receive and inward- 
ly digest the teachings of equity and justice, as enlightened rea- 
son, the God-principle of nature, dictates. 

/There are countless millions upon the earth, who have never/\ 
[with their outward ears, heard of Spiritualism, who are truer / 
^Spiritualists at heart, than many who have named the name.^/ 

And "there is vastly more conviction on the part of the clergy 
than is made manifest, or calls itself Spiritualism. God keeps 
his agents preparing the way for new revelations. 

A few weeks since I attended the opening services in one of oar 
city churches after the summer vacation. The pastor is among 
the most popular of all the clergy of this giant city, and circum- 
stances made it an occasion of more than ordinary rejoicing that 
they had resumed services around their favorite altar ; and in the 
fervor of the pastor's gratitude to God, he thanked him that ' we 
can feel assured that those who have loved to meet with us here 
and have left the earth for the higher life, are yet able to join us 
at this time of our rejoicing, and that they still hold dear this 
place of their former worship.' I was not a little surprised, but 
supposed the expression due to the effect of memory on the emo- 
tions, during the inspired moments of earnest prayer. But my 
surprise was greater, when I found the sentiment only the repeti- 
tion of the calm and deliberate statement of the pastor, when 
writing his sermon in his study, where he enlarged upon the idea. 
I was greatly astonished, when I met him on business the next 
week, to learn that he i had no sympathy with Spiritualism, and 
thought it was doing injury ! ' I was not disposed to question 
his assertion, but thought to myself that the sentiments of the 
prayer and sermon of the preceding Sabbath prepared many a 
mind to conclude that if spirits attended church and joined in 
communion service, it would be equally easy for them to go to 
some medium, if thereby they could express their interest in lov- 
ing friends, and many would reason that they would be more at- 
tracted there than to church. 

I might multiply instances showing that God is preparing Ihe 
Church, as well as the world, to welcome this providence which is 
soon to end the evils and dissensions of sectarianism, and silence 
the voice of the materialist, by demonstrating the meaning of the 
New Testament, so that there shall be no chance to doubt. With- 
in a week, one of the rising stars and earnest defenders of Trini- 



112 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

tarian theology visited a medium friend of mine, and solicited a 
seance, and appeared to enjoy it. I know a bishop of the Epis- 
copal church, who is said to make no secret of his interest and 
conviction. The opinions of the Beecher family, especially Eev. 
Thomas E., of Elmira, and Mrs. Stowe, have not only made many 
converts, through the Christian Union, but have emboldened 
others to express what they were before disposed to conceal, and 
must have led many prejudiced persons to inquiry." 

"Enlightened intellect, a strong, clear mind with true philos- 
ophy, must always believe a truth that is demonstrable, whether 
all the abstract or concrete principles of that truth be understood 
and comprehended or not. This latter (comprehension) cannot 
enter into a question of mere credence or credibility ; unders and- 
ing properly has nothing to do with believing. How frequent 
it is for us to say, ' We believe it, but don't understand it.' Can 
we say of a fact that we understand but don't believe it ? We 
may believe without understanding, but cannot understand a fact 
or truth without believing, for this very understanding of a truth 
or fact necessitates the truth or fact. The highest, grandest tri- 
umph and achievement of modern science is in the domain of the 
mind. It is tracing out the elements of immortal spirit, and the 
means and instruments through which and by which it operates 
and acts. It has discovered a refined electricity to be the connect- 
ing link between mind and matter; that it is the medium of 
mind ; that it is the medium of God and his government ; and 
that it is the grand primordial element of the universe. 

This is the most sublime achievement of the human mind, — to 
learn itself, to unravel its own mysteries and read its own future. 

It is the science of the living mind, its silent and mysterious 
workings, and energetic powers. 

It is the science that evolves the majestic movement of rolling 
worlds, the falling leaf, and claims the great law of the universe 
as its own. And I ? 11 add, the science that involves the philosophy 
of our immortal life, and spirit intercourse with incarnated men. 

' Yet such a science as this has been called a humbug, and such 
men as these (Dr. Dodds) have been assailed/ Again, truly and 
eloquently, ' True fame is not the birthright of the hero. The 
blaze of glory that has for ages encircled his head, and with its 
brilliancy so long dazzled the world, is beginning to grow dim. 
The laurels that decorate his sullen brow have been gathered at 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 113 

the cannon's mouth, from a soil enriched with human gore, and 
watered by the tears of bereavement. That favored pinnacle of 
glory on which he proudly stands has been gained by conquest 
and slaughter. His way to it lay over thousands of his fellow- 
creatures, whose warm hearts had ceased to throb ; and the music 
that followed his march was the widow's moan and the orphan's 
wail. True fame does not lie here. It has a higher origin, a 
nobler birth,- a more elevated aim. True fame consists in the 
lofty aspirations after intellectual and moral truth ! ' The great- 
est study of mankind is man ; the greatest lesson of our lives is to 
learn ourselves, which is, in fact, the sum total of all learning ; a 
lesson unlearned, all other learning 's naught. Our duty and our 
destiny, the end, and aim, and object, and origin of our existence, 
have always absorbed, and always will absorb and monopolize the 
brightest intellects that shed radiance over the dark precincts of 
time. All the great minds that have graced the annals of all the 
ages have devoted their energies to solve this mighty problem of 
themselves. To men of mind, in contradistinction to men of 
matter, it is the problem, and only problem. 

'Man, know thyself, there all wisdom centres,' says Dr. Young. 
Thales said, * The most difficult thing in nature is to know our- 
selves, the most easy to advise others.' Chilo had engraved in 
letters of gold in the temple of Apollo at Delphi this aphorism, 
* Know thyself.' [Query : does Beecher know himself ?] Phyrro, 
the sceptic philosopher of Ellis, asserted that no man can have 
certain knowledge of anything. One of his friends reproved him 
in the following logical dilemma : ' You either know what you 
say to be true, or you do not know it. If you do know it to be 
true, that very knowledge proves your assertion to be false, and 
you do wrong to make it ; if you do not know it to be true, you 
do wrong to assert it, since no one has a right to assert what he 
does not know to be true: therefore, in either case, you do 
wrong to assert that no one can have a certain knowledge of any- 
thing.'" 

We quote the following also from Kembert, who makes his own 
apology : — 

" Some of you will doubtless consider it vulgar Brownlowism, 
or, worse, diabolical Beecherism, which will perhaps jar on more 
refined ears, as it was written under the intensity of youthful inir 
pulse and ardor, unchastened by age ; and you will not expect me 



114 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

to stop now to smooth its severity with more polish, inasmuch 
especially as it speaks the truth, though the pen be porcupine 
dipped in fiery laya, contains the jewel, though full of flint and 
fire. 

We have seen the stricken soul, perhaps wild and wayward, 
mayhaps erring and erratic, but high-hearted and noble, unfortu- 
nate, with soul and exalted nature, who, like the Scarvola, would 
thrust his arm into the burning fire and see it and feel it perish, 
rather than stoop to meanness or falsehood ; who would disdain 
a low act as the bird of Jove disdains the mire ; soul of impas- 
sioned mould and lofty aspirations, that soared like the eagle of 
the mountain into the clear cerulean ; with no fault but misfor- 
tune, no weakness but too much trust, no guilt but looking 
to heaven, no crime but devoted love, like the immortal Milton, 
traduced, maligned, abused, and barked at by human hyenas sa- 
cerdotal sanctity with eyes that roll in holy horror at the aberra- 
tions of erratic love and pure devotion, — the little peccadilloes 
perchance of others, — who should have poured the oil of healing, 
and who will themselves, according to their own theory and prac- 
tice, roll another horror to the billowed thunders of devil's daily 
dirge, and cast a shadow over the regions of the damned like em- 
bodied midnight. We have seen the innocent, the injured, and 
the pure torn down with pharisaic friendship and satanic soul by 
falsehood's forked tongue of demoniac traduction, by the vile and 
villanous preacher who, under the assumed sanctitude of the 
Prince of peace, would scent out the victim of misfortune and 
urge on his hell-hounds of carrion to their feast of devil's obse- 
quious simpletons, who would howl when their master hissed, — 
incarnated spirits of distilled iniquity, whose souls, if they have 
any, will make black spots in hell's darkest midnight, — spots 
that the roll of ages will not efface, and the darkness of the 
damned will be sunshine to their spirits, deep and dark enough to 
extinguish the light of a thousand suns." 

"From the same author we give the following extract ; after the 
perusal of which, "guilty or not guilty," is not the question, but 
blame or no blame. If blame, who } s to blame ? If no blame, 
why this widespread commotion, this " social earthquake " ? 

" Said Shakespeare, who, not as a poet, but as an acute observer 
and profound philosopher had no superior, ' There is a divinity 
that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.' 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 115 

Man is impelled to every action by either internal impulse or 
external influence. External influence is that which he can con- 
trol, or that which he cannot control. If the latter, of course he 
cannot be held responsible for it or guilty of its effects ; if the 
former, — that external influence which he can control, — he 
either controls it or not, as he is prompted or enabled by his inter- 
nal impulse or inherent power. 

Hence it is narrowed down to his internal impulse. Now this 
impulse impels him as the character of the impulse predominates. 
If evil predominates, he is impelled to evil ; if good, then to good 
actions. These impulses ase inherent in him, and constitute as 
much his moral nature, as the form of his body or color of his 
skin constitutes his corporeal individuality. Now the question 
is, can he control his natural, inherent impulses ? I will answer 
this by asking, can he control the natural form of his body or 
color of his skin ? He certainly can, to a limited extent, at first, 
modify and improve the natural form of his body and beautify 
the complexion of his skin; and no more, at first, while subject 
to the animal. To this extent and no more, in low, undeveloped 
life, should we hold each other accountable, and visit a commen- 
surate punishment for deliberate violation ; this is the true ratio- 
nale of crime, — this much and no more. 

This certain penalty is the proper appliance to prevent crime in 
unprogressed men. Then if this strict justice be, as it should be, 
by all humane hearts, tempered with mercy, little will be left to 
punish. Hence moral suasion, proper education, philosophic 
scientific development is the great lever of human reform, the 
true principle of human progress. The more external influences 
are brought to bear, of which consists education, the more will 
the impulse be moulded and the conduct controlled. Hence the 
labors of the jurisconsul, the salutary influence of penal law, and 
judicial and retributive example, and juridical learning from 
Bracton and Fleta to Storey and Taney, are not without their 
good results on the conduct of men ; nor can we, indeed, in our 
present low rudimental condition of moral development, and 
dense population, live without these salutary influences and re- 
straints. 

And it is not inconsistent, though it may so appear, to aver 
that in the concrete if not in the abstract, in the aggregate if not 
in the segregate, — for God so governs through general and no 



116 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

special laws, otherwise, we should find no exceptions: everything 
is just as it was designed to be by the Creator; and in this aver- 
ment there is philosophy enough to fill a book. Indeed, it would 
require a volume to fully unfold the philosophy and vindicate the 
assertion ; for there is method in the conflicts of nature, as there 
is in the conflicts of human laws. Nor is it necessary to exclude 
the ( rare and exceptional phenomena of nature for the basis of 
analogy and argument/ as James Martineau said of Bishop Butler, 
whose ' strained analogy,' said William Pitt in a conversation with 
Wilberforce, i raised more doubts in my mind than it answered.' 
In fact, some installed divines say that in everything we do, we, 
though unconsciously, worship God. I do not think so ; the Crea- 
tor has not decreed, nor designed, nor governed special isolated 
cases. He governs alone through his organic general laws; and 
to these general laws, and not to special statutes, individual cases 
must be amenable. When man strikes down his brother man, — 
is that worshipping God, their common Father? Eeligionists, 
Christian as well as, and even more than, heathen, have always 
preached this strike-down principle of persecution, and practised 
it to perfection, especially the former, when the victim is to them 
a nonconformist. 

And upon the same principle the victim or nonconformist 
or heretic should strike them down as nonconformist and heretic 
to liis religion. And thus the wholesale human slaughter under 
religious dictation will be continued, unless rejected reason sup- 
plant fanatic faith, and spiritual love supplant carnal hate. Nor 
does my philosophy involve ' fatalism ' in its common acceptation, 
though some of the greatest intellects of the world, Napoleon 
Bonaparte among them, were decided fatalists. The celebrated 
argument of Milton, so universally accepted and adopted by old 
orthodoxy, to vindicate the Creator against the evil of man, by 
casting the blame for all our woes upon our first parents, is, for 
impotency and imbecility, unworthy of its source, and becoming 
only a third-rate pedagogue, or pettifogger of the pulpit, if there 
be such an animal. 

He says man was created with ' all he could have,' ( sufficient 
to have stood though free to fall.' I ask, could not man have 
been endowed with greater obedience, and made with greater self- 
control ? If not, then God's plenipotent power is limited. What 
impelled Eve to eat the apple? Curiosity, or whatever else you 



THE TLSTSEALED BOOK. 117 

please. What operated to prevent and withhold her? The com- 
mand of God. But the latter was not sufficient, therefore the 
former, her curiosity, or the whatever else you please, was stronger, 
and predominated. 

But God made her just that way; she had no hand, or even 
will in her making, — ' so was created/ as Milton saith. 

Then, in justice, the blame cannot be laid to her. And so 
Adam: what impelled him to partake? Love of Eve. What 
prevented? Command of God. Which predominated? The 
former. Why ? Because it was stronger. Who made it stronger ? 
His Creator. So chloride of nitrogen is quiescent until touched 
with the proper oil. What then ? Explosion, or violation of 
their obedience, just as nature made them. But man is endowed 
with reason, and ' reason also 's choice/ says Milton (though our 
preachers say we must n't use it, and in justice to them, I must 
say, they practise the precept, don't use it much, as Artemus Ward 
might say). Yet that does not change the question in principle, 
only in style and extent. Was reason strong enough ? No ! 
Who made reason not strong enough ? God, the same Creator. 

There is great good sense in the reply of the man who fell from 
a house and caught in a scaffolding. His friends said to him, 
'You ought to feel thankful to God for having thus saved you 
from death/ e I do; but was n't I cute, too?' It may be replied 
that this anecdote illustrates free-agency, makes against me, mili- 
tates against my position; the argument seems swung around, 
in cant phrase. To which I will thus replicate : this ability and 
disposition to catch the scaffold to save himself, this 'cnteness/ 
which is a trite word, signifying smartness, was either inherent in 
his creation, that is, the gift of God, or the acquisition of his own 
exertions. If the former, of course he is not entitled to the credit : 
it is all due to the Creator; if the latter, whence did he get 
the will and energy to put forth the efforts, and the opportunities 
to acquire this 'cuteness/ this sagacity, and the ability and dispo- 
sition to save himself ? Now it might be rejoined, that it was 
owing to his own volition that he exerted them. To which I put 
the surrejoinder in this interrogatory: How came his volition to 
act in that way unless predisposed, and prebiassed and prompted 
by some pre-existing inherent cause ? And the argument might 
thus go on to what the lawyers call rebutter and surrebutter, and 
extended indefinitely, but ending always, if .ever ending, in some- 



118 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

thing inherent, something antevenient, or intervenient, or super- 
venient, over which he could have no control whatever." 

Therefore we ask, is Beecher to blame ? Is any one to blame ? 
And after all this preamble, we come back to our first starting- 
point, indorsing the sentiment expressed in our former work, that 
this is " no child's-play game," but that a great purpose is to be 
worked out by and through this so-called scandal. 



Unto a quiet country church we went 

One bright and joyous Sabbath morn in spring. 

The young were there, the old were there, and all 

Except the wee small ones seemed well to know 

The purpose for, intent with which, they came. 

Their earnest prayers ascended high, their songs 

Were resonant with love to Him whom they 

In their uncultured way did magnify. 

The priest arose with solemn face and air. 

He read aloud from God's sure word some 

Mighty deeds recorded there : the deeds themselves 

No impress made upon his unprogressive 

Mind ; at least it so to us did seem. 

Our evidence, the way he read. Some thrilling 

Scenes, replete with brightness enhanced by 

Glorious spirit power, were read much as 

A child might read, — the punctuation all 

Awry, the emphasis all placed upon 

The passages like unto this : " For thus it 

Is written" and then a pause, as if 

These words he must digest, and then impress 

Indelibly upon the minds of these 

His simple-hearted listeners. Another 

Incident he reads, all radiant with 

Love divine. Pay close attention, else you '11 

Only hear, "for thus saith the scripture." A 

Hymn of praise must next be sung. Two lines 

He reads, two lines they sing ; he reads two more, 

Two more they sing ; and thusly to the end. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 119 

The prayer — But this we will not criticise, 
Except to say 't was earnest, sincere, yea, 
Very good. 

The sermon, I fear we it 
Shall not do justice. 'T was based the 
Bible all upon ; we mean not now its 
Teachings wise, its glorious truths, nay, but 
The book itself! With Adam number one 
He did quite well. No one, of course, could him 
Expect to go beyond what had been written. 
That would be absurd. But what he read of 
Him he knew to be true, for the " Bible 
Said so." The last Adam a " quickening 
Spirit " was. Ah, that was a " poser " ! And 
Yet, for aught he knew, he " might be right here 
In our midst." But if the Lord Jesus were 
Here, his glorious brightness would blind our 
Eyes ; not one, but all of us would become 
Perfectly blind. And O, what sinners all 
Were we ! The purest soul who dwelt this earth 
Upon could ne'er be saved, unless himself 
He thought to be the very worst of all 
Arch Satan's crew ; yea, and the same unto 
His God most high, confessed. He need not be 
The worst ; ah, no, not at all, but he must feel 
And say he was the worst, else no mercy 
Would unto him be shown, no matter how 
Pure and holy a life he led. Neither 
Cared he what advanced thinkers might say ; he 
Knew he was right, not from any knowledge 
He possessed, but because it said so in 
The Bible. 



" The devotees of the Bible say that it is so far above and be- 
yond human reason, that they cannot pretend to fathom, expli- 
cate, or understand it ; that reason is not required, and must have 
nothing to do with its exegesis in determining the question of its 



120 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

reception or rejection ; but, with the deglutition of the anaconda, 
it must be swallowed wholly, soully and bodily as we find it, with- 
out mastication of incisor or molar, without concoction of enceph- 
alon or viscera. But was not reason the cause, objectively and 
subjectively, of all their church reformations ? And do they in- 
tentionally or ignorantly set aside the words of the gentle Jesus, 
their very God, * Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is 
right?' 

And don't they use reason, or try to use reason, in expounding 
it ? Will they acknowledge no reason in their preaching? And, 
moreover, what is it that makes them come to the conclusion to 
accept it without any research for reason ? It is reason that 
prompts them to reject reason. If they reject reason in explain- 
ing, why accept reason in rejecting ? They stultify themselves 
in this whole subterfuge, as indeed they do in every other. But, 
quoth the preacher, i The Bible is true because of the miracles it 
records ' ; and ' these miracles are true because the Bible records 
them.' The Bible is true because St. Paul says so ; and St. Paul 
is true because the Bible says so. 

A distinguished divine, in an elaborate effort to vindicate the 
Bible, commences thus : ' God forbid that I should depreciate the 
value of reason in any of its offices. Beason is God's gift to man, 
and must be used as God designs. But so is the Bible God's gift 
to man, and must be used as God designs. Two gifts from the 
same perfect being cannot conflict with each other,' etc. But this 
is enough, — fair specimens of theological argument and logic, or 
rather sophistry ; taking for granted at the start the very point 
in dispute, and thus beg the question in the beginning. They 
are disgusting for their want of sense as well as want of honesty. 
I '11 prove there 's no death, and from death itself, and without 
meanly begging. 

There 's nothing certain but death, it is certain ; and there can 
be no death without first life ; then life becomes certain as death ; 
but if life is certain, there can be no death, for death cannot ensue 
without extinction of life : therefore there can be no death. This 
is the tergivisation and sophism of logic, without the disgusting 
begging of simulating simpletons. They evince not even a mod- 
icum of the astute dialectic talent of the ancient sophist, who, 
addressing Clinian, asked, * Is he who learns wise or unwise ? 
Answer, he is wise. But was he not previously ignorant of what 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 121 

he learns ? Answer, yes. The ignorant therefore learn, Clinian, 
and not the wise, as you supposed/ 

As for the Bible, claimed by its votaries having brought im- 
mortality to light, its authenticity is more difficult to prove, if 
possible, than the immortality of the soul, and both are incapable 
of proof unless we call in modern spiritual science, which, with 
its philosophy, will at once prove and explain the truths of both, 
as well as expose the fallacies and falsities preached from the Bi- 
ble and published from Spiritualism. And there are many such 
myths to be cleared up under the wield of progressive reason and 
science. 

Old orthodoxy never had a truth but that its priests warped 
and wove it into error and terror and horror. They would turn, 
distort, pervert, and convert a healing, heavenly ray of celestial 
light, direct from the angel world, into a burning, blasting shaft 
of diabolic darkness direct from Pandimonium. If an excarnated 
human form appear in the character of an angel, luminous in 
resplendence of perfection, they instantly shout God ! clothed in 
fire, and probably bright blazes of burning brimstone. If one 
appear from the shades of Sheol, darkling in the habiliments and 
frowning face of unprogressed humanity in the spiritual form, 
forthwith they proclaim Devil ! with cornuted and caudated ap- 
pendages bifurcated horrifically, roaring round seeking whom he 
may devour — somebody. 

How superior is this to the blind infidel obstinacy that denies 
all spirituality, past, present, or prospective, or to the weak efforts 
of Eenan, trying to throw doubt on the truth of the Christian 
record ? I dispute equally with the professed infidel, who would 
invalidate all spiritual record, and with the professed Christian, 
who would make all { religion unnatural and all nature irre- 
ligious/ It is not so much with them the God of truth, the God 
of nature, the God of their destiny, as the God of their fathers. 
Tew can rend the veil and view the truth of God and God of 
truth. Well did Jesus say, ' Few there be that find him/ 

I believe in the cardinal truths of the Bible as founded in phi- 
losophy, approved by science, and sustained by the laws of nature 
and the light of reason and common-sense ; but I cannot believe 
the whole Bible, with its palpable contradictions and absurdities, 
immanities and inhumanities, as founded in faith, disproved by 
science, and refuted by well-known laws of nature, and obnoxious 



122 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

to reason and common-sense. And you will find that my philoso- 
phy supports, and it is the only philosophy that does sustain the 
truths of the Bible, and without it the Bible must fall. Under 
the modern march of mind this thaumaturgical book cannot stand 
on mere faith ; it must have the support of science and philoso- 
phy, or fall like fabulous myth. The Bible is a record of Spiritu- 
alism, or it is a record of fable. My opinions on this great subject 
are not the mushroom growth of a moment ; they have matured 
from profound investigation, laborious research, and assiduous 
study ; honestly, independently, defiantly, for the threat of eter- 
nal torment has not terrified me, nor am I intimidated by popular 
or unpopular opinion, as you well know. Public opinion can 
have nothing to do with me in striving to learn my duty and my 
destiny ; and if there is truth in eternal torment, certainly it can- 
not be intended for one sincerely seeking truth and striving faith- 
fully to do his duty and learn his destiny. With science as the 
unerring touchstone and reason the guide, one the book of na- 
ture's God, and the other the God-gifted light to read it by, I 
seek and vindicate truth, and shun and combat error, whether 
under the name of infidel, Christian, Spiritualist, or Pagan, 
whether in the Bible or Koran, or the Code of Menu." — Bern- 
lert. 

We will now give an extract from the writings of a highly in- 
tellectual clergyman whose mind has been directed to the investi- 
gation of the spiritual philosophy. After a careful perusal of the 
same we would ask our readers to decide for themselves which of 
the two clergymen would by their teachings facilitate the true 
doctrine of spiritual religion as taught by the holy Nazarene ; 
the one who took the Bible itself for his guide, enlightened only 
by the teachings of the first Adam, " as it is written " ; or the one 
who read and interpreted its truths by the glorious light of inspi- 
ration from the second Adam or from any other " quickening 
spirit " who might serve the same end. 

Mr. Putnam thus writes : — 

" Life's pathway has seemed to myself and many others to be 
illumined with a new light, either an ignus fatuus, a false light, 
luring to dismal swamps of error and disquietude, or it is a sun, 
conceived from creation's dawn, in nature's living laws, now but 
beginning to shine on man with steady light, and promising to 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 123 

guide his steps to long-hidden fountains of truth and gladness. 
Is it a phantom or a sun ? Is it a creature of deluded human 
brains, or is it the handiwork of the eternal God ? Having used 
my own senses, — those, to me, best possible witnesses, — and 
having used them in this work for more than a year, I am pre- 
pared to receive the light that is now struggling through the 
mists around us, as the dawn of a new day. And if it has been my 
lot, as we are performing our march over life's hill- tops and down 
across its valleys, if it has been my lot to stand on a spot where 
its earlier beams have met my eye, why shall I not speak of the 
cheering event to those, whether before or behind me, who are 
now marching in the shaded valley ? 

I behold a God so perfect, that his wisdom and power were, 
from the beginning, competent to devise such laws as should with- 
out violation, without suspension, admit under and in obedience to 
themselves, all all the light, and all the angel visitations, which his 
children on earth might ever need. When man shall see and feel 
that heaven's inhabitants may come to earth by natural processes, 
and work among us, just according to their several abilities and 
characters, then the greatest difficulties of philosophical faith in 
the Bible as a record of teachings from on high, will melt away, 
and the wisdom of God himself will appear to us more complete. 
The departed Samuel did appear to the woman of Endor and to 
Saul ; Moses and Elias did appear to Jesus and his companions; and 
as spirits are seen and conversed with in our day, the fair presump- 
tion is, that the processes of return were the same then as now. 

Angels rolled the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre ; they 
opened Peter's prison doors ; spirits move heavy bodies now, and 
why not by the same laws as then ? In olden times such works 
were done in the dark: they are mostly and most successfully 
done in the dark now, and thus give ground for presumption that 
both are manifestations of the one law. Unlearned apostles spoke 
in languages which they had never talked or studied before: 
many mediums now do the same. The sick were healed by a look 
or a touch, the same thing is frequently done now. Jesus, in a 
certain place, performed but few mighty works, because of the 
unbelief which surrounded him : and at this day unbelief on the 
part of those present is a formidable bar to spirit manifesta- 
tion. Jesus walked upon the water, Margaret Eule floated in 
the air, and so have others quite recently ; these and other points 



124 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

of resemblance in the manifestations indicate a compliance with, 
the same law or laws. The above conclusion by no means requires 
one to ascribe the same wisdom and holiness to the spirits who 
come now as to those who came of old ; nor does it bring the 
moral and religious character of Jesus and the apostles into com- 
parison with that of modern mediums. Formerly there was 
occasion to 'try the spirits/ and most surely the need exists at the 
present day. Far back in the Jewish history, G-od said he would 
put a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophet, and it is written 
that an evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul. Lying and evil 
spirits from some source, as well as truthful and good ones, find 
their way into mediums now. The mediums themselves are not 
all supposed to be above treachery and deceit. There was one 
Judas of old ; perhaps our times furnish many. There were both 
good and bad spirits and prophesiers in Bible times, and there are 
both good and bad spirits, and mediums too, at the present day. 
One fact of Scripture, showing the immediate author or authors 
of John's inspiration when writing the Apocalypse, may throw a 
bright light upon the subject of spirit action. Jesus sent his an- 
gel to John, ' in the spirit/ John saw and heard that angel, and 
learned from him that he was not God, but one of John's breth- 
ren, the prophets. This seems to be a clear statement that the 
spirit of one who had been a prophet on earth was sent by Jesus 
to John ; and that when the angel was present, John, ' in the 
spirit' (trance ?) saw and heard the things which he described 
and recorded. That angel was a speaker to John, and it is his 
words, in part, which come to us as inspiration. Let that light 
shine back upon the Book of Daniel, and some other parts of the 
Scriptures, and see if the Bible itself does not contain internal 
proof that individual, finite spirits furnished many parts of it to 
the recording mediums, and thus indicate that inspiration from 
above comes in obedience to some universal law. Let a view like 
this become general, and then, if its effects upon those who already 
take it warrant a prophecy, the world will turn to the Bible with 
fresh interest, and find there, more than ever before, a storehouse 
richly furnished with treasures of truth, and love, and wisdom 
from the heavens. The Bible will hereafter find its truest friends, 
its only invincible defenders, among those who shall guard it within 
the walls of Spiritualism, and read it there in the light of heavenly 
inspiration" 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 125 

A contemporary, soliciting the favor of quoting from his works, 
received the following reply : " It gives me great pleasure to 
learn that my early lecture has found favor with one who can ap- 
preciate, and is disposed to speak to the world upon the spiritual 
philosophy of life. If it has been my privilege to furnish the 
world with anything instructive and useful concerning the inter- 
course of spirits with mortals, I desire to thank God and his min- 
istering spirits for the opportunity and the power. The little 
which I have published is at the sevice of any one who judges that 
he can make it useful." 

We give this,, as it expresses so exactly our sentiments in re- 
gard to quotations and extracts. We do not consider it matter of 
importance to always give our authority, nor should we desire it 
from others. Our knowledge is all gained, either directly or in- 
directly, from a higher source, and what have any of us that we 
have not received ? We frequently adopt the method of convey- 
ing our ideas in the expressed language of another, simply be- 
cause it is more expeditious, and we can thereby accomplish a 
greater amount of usefulness in a shorter space of time. As for 
ourselves, we care not by whom or in what way our writings may 
be used, only so, by the blessing of God, they be the m%ans of good 
to his people. Unto Him, and not us, be all the credit ascribed. 

We give the following extract from S. S. Eembert, as illustra- 
tive of the fact we have before stated, that many are inspired both 
to write and to speak, unconsciously to themselves. That it was 
written under inspiration, who can doubt ? 

" In view of these great developments of modern science and 
its rapid progress, I wrote the following in a work entitled i Dis- 
sertation on the Analogies of Nature and Kevelation,' published 
in 1857, which many of you have read, and from which I have al- 
ready quoted, and shall as often quote as it serves my subject. 
And here allow me to say that those portions of that book which 
ignore philosophy, I would now correct or utterly reject; that our 
entire life, past, present and future, from the first organic germ, 
ay, from the primal atoms in the elementary growth, up to the 
highest altitudes of progression in the great hereafter in erternity, 
is but one continuous illustration of philosophy ; that all nature 
is philosophy; that there is philosophy in everything; that there 



126 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

is nothing in all nature without its philosophy ; and that nature's 
God is the grand embodiment and personation of philosophy. I 
would also disclaim and discard every idea of the infallibility of 
revelation ; for there can be no infallibility where the finite is in- 
volved, either in receiving or imparting. If the talented divine 
had said ( faith ' instead of ' Christianity/ when he commenced 
his sermon with ' Christianity begins where philosophy ends/ he 
would have uttered a greater truth, for faith flourishes in the soil 
of superstition and ignorance, and has no philosophy. But ra- 
tional and rationalistic Christianity, or true religion, is founded 
in philosophy, and goes hand in hand with science; and any re- 
ligion not thus, is fallacious. Said preacher, I must opine, has 
sadly mistaken in proclaiming such religion, for such religion or 
such Christianity can have no beginning, inasmuch as philosophy 
has no ending. A foppish man, on presenting his ring, remarked 
to a lady, ' It is emblematic of my love to you, it has no ending ' ; 
to which the lady replied* ' It is equally emblematic of my love 
for you, it has no beginning.' It is, or ought to be, an absolute 
idea, and the effete orator who would now utter it has either out- 
travelled science and gone ahead of everybody else, has impatiently 
jumped over all philosophy, and plunged into the abysmal ocean 
of ' faith ' to slake his thirst, or else is far behind the progress of 
the age, and ignorant of the modern march of mind. He would 
remind me of the drunkard who was taken to a graveyard in a 
state of unconsciousness, and laid out on a tombstone. On re- 
covering from his inebriation, and looking round at his strange 
situation, perceiving nothing but the silent tombs, he exclaimed, 
€ Well, I 'm either the first that 's riz, or I 'm behind time, — all 
got up and gone ahead of me.' He has certainly gone ahead of 
everybody else, or is wofully behind the times. But science has 
bridged this hitherto shoreless ocean of incertitude, and found a 
beacon on the other bank ; or rather, has thrown its electric wires 
across the dread abyss, and communicates with the splendid deni- 
zens of the other shore ; while the man of faith, fed on its effete 
pabulum and extinct cabalistic traditions, is left struggling in the 
salty surge, without a shore and without a sounding, midst upper, 
nether, and surrounding waters. But to my extract : — 

'And it 'is reasonable to suppose that when death destroys this 
mortal temple, this immortal being will wing his flight to the God 
from whom he sprung, in harmony with all known laws of nature, 



THE TJNSEALED BOOK. 127 

by which attraction gathers all smaller particles to the one great 
central larger of their like ; and that all thns attracted, congenial 
in feeling, desire, disposition, to the great attracting God, will be 
either absorbed by him and made partakers of his glory, or be 
fitted np in immortal tenements, and provided with abodes of 
bliss, commensurate with their merits, where 

" Sceptred angels hold their residence." 

While on the other hand, in accordance with this same univer- 
sal law of nature and nature's God, attraction and repulsion, the 
disembodied spirits of the wicked, with feeling, desire, disposition 
adverse, opposite, and oppugnant to God, will be repelled by him, 
and provided with places of shade adapted to their moral condi- 
tion. Indeed it is evident, as we shall hereafter show, that God 
must make this distinction, must draw some line of demarcation 
hereafter, or else forfeit and absolve his claim on man, for the in- 
tegrity of his righteousness. . . . The whole history of man, indi- 
vidually and collectively, teaches progression is a law of his being, 
here and hereafter : individually in the great change from infancy 
to maturity. An infant, he is the most ignorant and helpless of 
beings, not even endowed with the instinct of the brute ; a mere 
inert and almost impassive germ, which, under this great law of 
his progression, is destined to far outstrip all his animated com- 
peers of earth, to display a spark of Deity, to measure worlds, and 
span the intervening voids ; ultimately, to leap disembodied the 
barriers of earth, break through the confines of time, and become 
the denizen of an immortal heaven, with near developments of 
might and magnificence, and powers of expansion and progres- 
sion as boundless as the roll of eternal years ; collectively, in his 
mighty advance in science and civilization, his rapid progress in 
social condition, the extent and solidity, safety and protection, of 
governmental compacts, the diffusions of constitutional reforms, 
and all the ameliorating influences incidental to, and resulting 
from, the improvement of science. And in all this progress, per- 
sonally and socially, man is himself made the active instrument 
of his own reforms, his own progress, improvements, and emolu- 
ments. They do not voluntarily come upon him, reposing in ease 
and indolence. 

Franklin, Lardner, Kepler, and Laplace were not born such : 
their knowledge, erudition, and philosophy were not voluntary 



128 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

gifts of Providence, but were acquired by incessant effort, assidu- 
ous study, and faithful toil and vigilance. " Eternal vigilance is 
the price of liberty," said Jefferson ; eternal vigilance is the price 
of all progress, says science. And though some men are born and 
grow up with stronger minds as with stronger bodies than others, 
yet universal man, in every state, station, and condition, is 
emphatically the carver of his own fortune, the architect of his 
own destiny under the mysterious providences of nature. 

The constitutions of England and America are not the gratui- 
ties of fate, but the legitimate result of a moral progress, effectu- 
ated by the labor of enlightened mind. Again, if the longevity of 
man has been regularly decreasing since his inhabitation of the 
earth, when will it reach the point of an hour, or no existence at 
all ? What the cause of his deterioration in length of life until 
about the fifteenth century, and then the reaction ? The insta- 
bility of government, the wide extent and almost universality of 
ignorance, of insecurity, idolatry, and superstition ; and these are 
certainly sufficient to entail the most fatal results. That the lon- 
gevity of man, until within a few generations back, had been de- 
generating regularly, is in strict accordance with his historic biog- 
raphies ; and that for the last few generations he has fully main- 
tained his longevity, is also of historic record. Now, what is the 
cause of this reaction ? And were it not for this salutary, saving 
reaction exerted upon man, he would inevitably have degenerated 
into nothing. But since the effectual and efficient evulgations of 
knowledge, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the con- 
comitant diffusion of letters and learning, the conquests of peace- 
ful science in lieu of bloody war, the rapid multiplication of 
books, and the birth of science, man has been enabled to snatch 
himself from his own extermination, and rescue earth from its 
threatened depopulation. 

During the long dark night of a thousand years, man's habitual 
occupation was war and mutual extirpation ; and his prevailing 
religion taught him that the loss of life in battle was a certain 
passport to the blissful halls of Odin. During this thousand 
years knowledge was unknown, or locked up in night, and dark- 
ness usurped the dominion of day. Famine spread out the dark 
shadow of its dread wing over the nations, and death and desola- 
tion were winged upon the blast. Whole towns and cities were 
depopulated, and provinces brought to destruction. Is it strange 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 129 

that the average duration of life should have been so abridged at 
this dark epoch ? But since the rise of science in its purity and 
splendor, winged with the elements, with all its attendant bless- 
ings of wisdom, peace, science, commerce whitening the water, as 
civilization gilds the land, new elements and adjuncts, evolved of 
social comfort and progress, new edibles for men's sustentation 
discovered and transported, stability, consolidation of states and 
governments, with the sceptre of peace waving as the trident of 
empire, and protection, progress, population, the insignia of his 
bannered march, is it strange the average life of man should be 
again extended ? Nay, when we consider the late ivonderful de- 
velopments in the science of electricity, the most sublime science of 
the human soul, as it is, in all probability, the elemental essence 
of all ethereal, spiritual creations, from the godhead down, and the 
all-pervading element of nature, it is reasonable to hope that man 
will yet be enabled, under the guidance of his God and the design 
of Providence, to work out his own immortality in a world reno- 
vated and restored to its pristine eden. 

Providence, as we have seen, works by means, and has made 
man the instrument of his own ameliorations ; why not make him 
the instrument of effecting his own restitution, and the restitu- 
tion of his world ? Philosophy already points her finger to the 
subtle agency of electricity as a universally diffused fluid and all- 
pervading element of the universe of mind and matter. And 
though we are as yet but in the alphabet of this most magnificent 
and boundless science, we can even now make the bodies of the 
departed frown, weep, or smile in death, excite the limbs and 
muscles into various action, and almost revitalize the cold clay. 
We have seen the sick and the suffering healed and restored and 
eased in an instant by this invisible fluid. Indeed, the boundless 
universe, as well as the complex machine of man, especially his 
nervous system, in all its minute and mysterious ramifications, 
which is nothing else than his psychological connection with 
matter, which is nothing else than electrical organization, is all: 
under the predominating influence and control of this mighty and 
mysterious element or essence, in its vastly various modifications.. 
And the time may come when man, climbing step by step 
the abstruse altitudes oe this mighty philosophy, will be 
enabled to unlock and look into the secret recesses of 
Jehovah's great laboratory of liee, and hand in hand 



130 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

WITH SCIENCE, THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF MIND AND 
MORALS, CO-OPERATIYE, CONTEMPORANEOUS, AND COEXTENSIVE 
WITH HIS DIVINE REVELATIONS SHALL DEVELOP THE DESTINIES 

ordained by his Oreator por the world, shall stay disease, 
expel sin and hatred, implant piety and love, and, by the direc- 
tion of Providence, weave out again his lost and tattered garments 
of immortality. 

What is this but the millennium ? "What is the millennium 
but prophetic revelation ? And are we not evidently drifting to 
its consummation ? Eather, are we not working to this end ? If 
so, is it not proof of the prophetic inspiration of revelation? 
Earth may yet be renovated and restored, and made a fit heaven 
for the good and the true ; and man himself, as he is ever made 
the instrument of all his own ameliorations, may be made the 
instrument of this his last and mighty consummation, through 
the means of this universal, ethereal, and omnipotent agency, elec- 
tricity, the philosophy of all mind, and all matter, and all life on 
earth and anywhere ; ay, the great philosophy of God ! Then 
for the resurrection ! When revelation shall have accomplished 
its mission, what a sound breaks upon the ravished ear ! what a 
scene bursts upon the enraptured vision of fancy! Father, 
mother, loved and long-lost friends awakening into life, and com- 
ing forth again to clasp the arm of love that never more shall 
break ! Verily, the echoes of Odin's halls are hushed, the charms 
of Thor have departed, and the virgins of the Valhallah have lost 
their fascinations. Verily, the mighty fabric of mythology, that 
so long spread its desolating shadow over the nations ; that stu- 
pendous temple in which the spirits of superstition offered incense 
and ignorance run riot ; that vast structure, built of human bones 
and cemented by their blood, beside which Tamarlane's pyramid 
of seventy thousand human skulls is as nothing ; this mighty 
collossus, which so long has stood the tempests of time and flour- 
ished in its whirlwinds, is crumbling into ruins. The fiery light- 
nings and thunderbolts of heaven have scathed its gray summit, 
the earthquake roll of revolution has swept its hoary base, yet it 
stood and triumphed in the storm ; commotion was its preserva- 
tive element; and the roll of revolution its loved melody. But 
this revelation of true and eternal God has tranquillized the 
troubled elements, has stilled the tempest, disarmed the whirlwind, 
and whispered peace, purity, and love into the ears of the moral 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 131 

tornado in which the fabric flourished ; has shot the light athwart 
its dark and dismal dungeons ; has encircled its pinnacle in sun- 
shine, invested the whole structure in a heavenly influence, and 
lo ! it crumbles into bitter ashes ! Is not this a triumph and a 
conquest ? Let history answer ! ' 

These adumbrated vaticinations, ay, direct prophecies without 
ambiguous symbols, with no professions of inspiration, were 
penned, be it remembered, before I knew anything of the spiritual 
philosophy, as some of you are aware. True, I had read newspaper 
accounts of spiritualism as a strange illusion among some people 
in that hot-bed of hallucination and frenzied fanaticism, in the 
Northern States, — and good has come out of Nazareth, — but 
knew nothing of it as worthy the name of science, and only re- 
garded it with contempt. I was first led to investigation by a 
course of lectures which I heard delivered in the city of Galveston 
in 1858, by Thomas Gales Forster, nephew of Mr. Gales of the 
* National Intelligencer/ It was as a mere pastime, to spend a leis- 
ure evening, that I attended his first lecture, at which I found 
but a small audience. When I went home and retired for the 
night, I could not rest nor sleep, so deeply impressed was I, and 
felt disposed to write an editorial for the next morning papers, 
calling the attention of the citizens to his magnificent eloquence, 
that they, too, might enjoy it with myself. I had to get up, get 
the candle and light it myself, get my writing tackle (portable 
desk), and waited upon myself all through, without disturbing 
any one, contrary to my usual custom, as we always had a young 
servant at hand to wait upon me in such cases. After inditing 
the article, I again laid down, and rested and slept composedly 
and quietly. I will read the article, — it is short, — together with 
the prefatory remarks made by the editor of the ' Galveston News ' : 

1 Professor Forster delivered his first lecture last night, and we 
hear the most unbounded applause bestowed on him by those who 
were present, as having far surpassed, in his power of eloquence,, 
all efforts of elocution ever before witnessed by them. Such is 
the testimony of all. We append the following testimonial from 
one of the most intelligent among our citizens, whose initials will 
doubtless designate the writer. He will be allowed to be a good 
judge of true eloquence.' 

Editor's News. — Allow me to say that Mr. Forster's effort last 
night, for intense eloquence and majestic sublimity, — and I don't 



132 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

express more than half my feelings, my judgment, my soul, — was 
the most splendid lecture, the most eloquent oration, the most 
magnificent effort of human intellect and godlike grandeur that 
ever blazed before my mental vision, or thrilled the tendrils of my 
heart. Immortality and glory, borne upon philosophy, towered 
as the theme for the children of the earth to the God of the 
heavens. I don't know the man, never saw him before, nor does 
he know me. Would that he might speak every night and all 
night. 0, the sublime strides of the soaring soul toward the 
eternal God and his angel immortalities! The discriminating 
editor of the ( News/ with his large experience, when he said, the 
other day, that the most eloquent lecture he ever heard fell from 
Mr. Forster's lips, said a great deal, and yet he said nothing. The 
pages of human history filled with the eloquence of ages, from 
Cicero to Clay, from Massillon to Maffit, not stopping to look 
away down upon the pigmy, piping preachers of the times, who 
stick like blue mud to the bright wheels of religious progress, — 
the pages of human eloquence, I say, are filled and yet are blank. 
Like the morning sun just risen from his eastern couch, dissipat- 
ing the fogs of night and robing the earth in radiance, Mr. Forster 
rises and throws his thoughts of light, like a morning rainbow, 
from the animal to the angel world. The vestal fires that burn 
upon the altars of eternity seem kindled in his bosom, and he 
just breathes the flame into the hearts of his hearers. If I had to 
characterize in three words his overwhelming eloquence, composed 
as it is of philosophy and reason, argument and elocution, brill- 
iancy and beauty, sublimity and majesty, prose and poetry, fancy 
and fluency, I should say, power, power, power. 

You may say I am utterly carried away ; yes, and I hope to 
continue to be thus led away from this death-drifting stream of 
time, in the lofty soarings of the soul after the loved and lost, 
and the great, the good, and the glorious. 

(Signed,) 

S. S. K." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 133 



THE SPIRITUAL CORPSE. 

M Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart 
of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." 

To the house of God, his earthly court, this 
Day we weut. We call it court : no other 
Name in tbis case would so well apply. 
Above — the statement of the case — above 
This earthly sphere was he who first did make 
His plea ; below the earth plane (general) 
Was lawyer number two. They both did through 
One mouthpiece speak, the mouthpiece of the 
Clergyman, a medium, endued with 
Powers he knew not that he possessed, nor could 
Control. He knew not when the spirit first 
Did him inspire ; he knew not when the change 
Occurred, when one stepped out, the other in, 
But thought his own most fertile brain did 
Generate, grow, and produce the knowledge 
Both fair and unfair which his organs, both 
Wisely and unwisely (allowing us to be the 
Judge), poured forth. 

It never hath been ours to 
Witness so great and instantaneous 
A transformation in the language 
And appearance of a human being as 
Was here displayed. The first part of the discourse 
Could not have been more tempered with mercy 
And love, had the Lord himself inspired the 
Theme. Not only love and mercy shone forth 
In golden splendor bright, but far-reaching 
Thought soared aloft as on eagle's wings, far, 
Far above earth's low confines of narrowness, 
Feasting the soul on the untrammelled delights, 
The glorious conceptions of the beautiful 
Beyond. This spirit pure not e'en presumed 



134 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

His brother-man to judge, much less the 

Wisdom infinite, supreme, of Him whose ways 

Are inscrutable. No creed, sect, or church 

Availed in his domain of mind, but only 

So the heart with God was right. Ah, the gospel 

Of love had stamped its image on his heart ; 

A ministering angel truly he, although 

" Entertained (or entertaining) unawares." 

Alas ! that such a spirit should, even 

For a time, be forced its place to yield unto 

Another, simply because " I am weak 

And thou art strong." 

O thou cruel-hearted 
Tyrant ! bound with chains of error which not 
Even the hottest flames of your pictured 
Hell-fire can loose or absolve. What mean ye 
When ye say that nations of every 
Kindred and tongue have gone down, yea, that 
" Multitudes ! multitudes ! multitudes ! 
Have gone down, down unto the depths of the 
1 Bottomless pit ' of eternal damnation ? " 
And not content with consigning them there, 
To declare that the torment, the burning, 
Seething lake of fire you have portrayed in 
Its horrifying darkness (strange kind 
Of fire) is but the " beginning of sorrows " ; 
That their woes shall not only last throughout 
Eternal ages, but that each succeeding 
Age shall force them deeper, deeper down into 
The abyss of agonizing despair ! 
Wherefore came this knowledge to thee ? Hast been 
There, and "I only am escaped to tell 
Thee " ? Again, ye say these bodies all have 
Been consigned, returned unto, mingled with 
Their native dust. What then is burning? Their 
Spirits, surely, no fire can harm, since they 
In flames of fire, in burning bushes did 



THE UNSALED BOOK. 135 

Appear, in fiery chariots ride. What meanest 

Thou then? To prove these things, thou bringest 

Words of Jesus, "If thy right eye offend 

Thee " or thy " right hand," to pluck out, cut off, 

And cast from thee. If he our earthly eyes, 

Our fleshly hands did mean, who hath obeyed ? 

No soul who dwells hath ever dwelt this earth 

Upon, as we can learn ; and yet no eye 

Or arm hath been created that has not 

Eepeatedly and undeniably 

" Offended." If the body is meant, there 

Can be no angels in heaven ; if the 

Soul or spirit is meant, what then ? " The soul 

That sinneth it shall die." And did ye not 

At the very outset say that "Adam's 

Spirit died, — he became a spiritual 

Corpse?" We have not forgotten, as we were 

Forcibly " struck," never having heard the 

Like before, and supposing the spirit 

To be immortal. Again we ask, what 

Mean ye ? Adam's fleshly body " mingled 

With its native dust, his spirit dead, a 

Corpse." What can there be left to burn ? 'Tis a 

Mystery beyond compare. And where is 

" The last Adam, a quickening spirit ? " 

Ah ! I remember now you did mention 

Him, as saved by the blood of Christ ; but this 

Only deepens the mystery, for where 

Was Adam all the intervening centuries 

Twixt him and Christ ? If he was really 

Dead, — spiritually, soully, and bodily 

Dead, — he was incapable of suffering. 

If Adam thus died, why not all the human 

Kace the same ? Again, if he did not thus 

Die, but was cast into the bottomless 

Pit, going down, down, down, eternally 

Down, as ye say must all who enter therein, 



136 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

The Lord himself could n't bring him back, unless 
Ye make of him a liar like unto yourself. 

But enough of this: what we term "active ignorance," and 
coming too, from a denizen of the spirit world. Should we cite 
and criticise all of his inconsistencies, we should have little space 
for anything else. 

Suffice it to say that after the departure of the controlling 
spirit, the poor deluded clergyman (for whom we felt a vast 
amount of pity) arose and gave the finale ; said he did not know 
whether he had uttered one word of truth which would fall upon 
good soil or not, but one thing he did know, he had performed his 
duty to God ("and by their fruits ye shall know them"), and 
moreover, that he could tell a Christian by his face, also making 
some very personal remarks, which it is not ours to give ; but we 
inwardly prayed that he might become cognizant of the gift he 
possessed, and be enabled not only to discern spirits in the form 
but (what to him would be more important) disembodied ones 
as well. 

To the poor undeveloped spirit, who made the walls to re-echo 
with his concocted monstrosities, we would say: "The black 
Hades or hell you preach, and to which you would doubtless con- 
sign me for eternal duration, is, thank God, for you, only eviter- 
nal, not sempiternal, as you proclaim. The grand economy of 
progression will lift even you from this eviternal Gehenna, and 
will make your black spirit ultimately blossom with charity and 
love. Such I would have you, and the God I serve will do more 
than I can wish, different from your God, who would, if adjudi- 
cating your practices by the standard of your precepts, damn you 
forever in hell's hottest abysmal ocean of fire, fury, and flame. 
But no ; I hope to see in future centuries the fruit of angel love 
growing up out of your present black and bitter ashes. By the 
perfect optimism of Providence, which is nature, the doors of 
Paradise are ever open to you and to all. But perhaps yours is 
the best religion to hold in check the evil of the ignorant, and 
please the feelings of the vindictive: for the deity and religion. of 
a man always assimilate to the plane of his feelings and percep- 
tions. It is natural for the cruel, tyrannic, puritanic, and vindic- 
tive natures to believe in and worship a cruel, tyrannic, and vin- 
dictive God j and those who heartily believe in such a God cannot 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 137 

be otherwise, for the God whom they thus invest is but the mirror 
of their character ; given the attributes of the God worshipped, and 
the character of his worshippers appears in a mirror ; or given the 
character of the worshippers, and the attributes of their God will 
assimilate to their plane ; it is not only natural, as I said, but it is 
as impossible for such natures to have any other sort of God, as 
it is for a carnivorous animal to desire any other sort of food but 
flesh ; or for God himself to contravene his own laws and work a 
miracle." 

The question now arises, is the spirit, the soul, immortal ? 
" To this we may reply : Everything in nature serves its purpose 
before it perishes ; that the purpose of everything is to contribute 
its part toward the great end of unfolding and elaborating some- 
thing higher ; that everything below man thus serves a purpose ; 
but that man, the highest earthly creation, for whom everything 
was made, and to whose creation all things else conspire, serves 
no purpose whatever, if so be that he perish ; that his creation is 
a failure without purpose or wisdom, unless he, too, unfold some- 
thing higher ; and that as he is the only creation that has a con- 
scious hope of something higher, with conscious aspirations for 
undying love, the verisimilitude is that he himself, with all his 
conscious memories, will unfold into a higher future, and thus 
continue nature's great chain of progression, else a huge hiatus 
here occurs. 

Again, death, throughout the wide domains of nature, strikes 
nothing but what it can touch ; effects nothing but what it can 
reach ; kills nothing but what is tangible and material, and, there- 
fore, susceptible of being killed. But soul, spirit, is intangible, 
immaterial, and therefore not susceptible of being killed. It can- 
not be touched, it cannot be reached, and therefore cannot be 
struck or affected by death ; unless it can be proved that there is 
another kind of death in operation, or that, the common known 
death can operate on any other than physical matter. But the 
former, that there is a different kind of death, is not known ; on 
the contrary, all nature proves but one death (called such), of 
which we have any knowledge. And as for the other only alter- 
native, that this known natural death can operate upon any other 
than physical matter, but may also extend to the spirit, Nature 
furnishes, in all her ample range, not one such instance. 



138 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And further, if death is not confined to physical matter, but 
may extend its ravages to the spiritual creation, and spread its 
dread wing of desolation upon the universal ether, where shall the 
flight of its dark pinion be stayed ? Where the limit to fold its 
sable wing ? Where stops dread Azrael ? 

'If human souls, why not angelic, too, 
Extinguished ; and a solitary God 
O'er ghastly ruin frowning from his throne/ 

through the desolate realms of a death-struck universe ! 

We are therefore led to conclude, as an illative corollary, that 
man has an immortal spark within his bosom, that natural death 
can no more affect than it can affect the Deity ; that man is him- 
self an immortal being temporarily incased in this casket of clay. 

And again, man is endowed with religiosity, or spirituality 
and veneration, but the brute is not. Now, where the wisdom 
in giving religiosity to men without immortal life, or in giving 
undying life to the brute without religiosity ? And further, the 
love of the brute is as deep and intense for its young, while young 
and requiring protection, as that of the mother ; but as its young 
grow up and mature beyond the necessity of maternal care, its 
love ceases and subsides entirely ; all memory, even, is lost. Why 
so ? Because its life is transitory, hence its love is also transitory ; 
and e converso, because its love is transitory, its life also is transi- 
tory. For where is the object, the wisdom, or goodness in giving 
immortal life, where there is no immortal love, or immortal love 
where there is no immortal life ? We know that the love of the 
brute is not enduring, but ephemeral ; and we know the love of 
the mother is immortal as her life. Hence the wisdom and good- 
ness of giving her immortal life, to enjoy this immortal love im- 
planted in her breast. 

'They sin who tell us love can die ; 
With life all other passions fly, 
All others are but vanity ; 
Earthly, those passions of the earth, 
They perish where they have their birth. 
But love is indestructible, 
Its holy flame forever burneth, 
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth ; 
It soweth here in toil and care, 
But the harvest time of love is over there.' 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 139 

The atheistic European, the polytheistic Asiatic, and the spirit- 
ual American, all — save perhaps the priesthood in the time of 
Leo X., according to Erasmus — believe in and yearn for a here- 
after. And it is worthy remark that the only people who never 
had an organized priesthood, namely, the aboriginal Americans, 
are the possessors of the most true, the most simple, the most 
natural, and the most philosophical religion. 

Kev. Mr. Gogerly, in his translation of the Damina Parida, 
written in Pali, makes Buddha repeatedly speak of a future life. 
Hear Buddha : ' The sinner suffers in this world, and he will suf- 
fer in the next world ; in both worlds he suffers. The virtuous 
man rejoices in this world, and he will rejoice in the next world ; 
in both worlds he has joy/ This great Hindoo prophet, ' whose 
code of ethics equals that of any other religion,' in the words of 
the scholar who published the TJshtakas of the Rig Veda, flour- 
ished eight centuries before the advent of Jesus Christ ; and the 
contemporaneous Gymnosophists of India were wont to send mes- 
sages to their departed friends by those who were about to die. 
[Be it known that Buddhism has more disciples by far than any 
other religious sect, embracing more than one third of the whole 
human race.] Confucius, who lived five centuries before Christ, 
is said to have proclaimed the golden rule of doing unto others 
as we would have others do unto us; and so did Hillel the 
Jew. 

Let us turn also from these dim legends and traditions, and 
look to those illustrious characters that loom up along the past 
like lights from eternity. Come forth, soul of Socrates, and 
awaken once more your mighty memories, that give a glory to 
philosophy ! ' The cause of this is that which you have often 
and in many places heard me mention, because I am moved by a 
certain divine and spiritual influence, which also Miletus, through 
mockeryj has set out in the indictment. This began with me 
from childhood, being a kind of voice which, when present, always 
diverts me from what I am about to do, but never urges me on. 
But this duty, as I said, has been enjoined me by the Deity, by 
oracles, by dreams, and by every other mode by which any other 
divine decree has ever enjoined anything for man to do.' Toward 
the close of his last address before his judges, Socrates said, speak- 
ing of his death and the future life : ' If this be true, my judges, 
what greater good can there be than this ? At what rate would 



140 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

not either of you purchase a conference with Orpheus and Mu- 
sseus, with Hesiod and Homer, or with Ulysses or Sisyphus, or 
ten thousand others, both male and female, that might be men- 
tioned ? For to converse and associate with them would be an 
inestimable felicity. Truly, I should be willing to die often if 
these things are true.' His friend Orito inquired of him how he 
would be buried. 'Just as you please/ said he ; 'i. e. if you can 
find me 1 : at the same time smiling and saying, 'Orito thinks 
that / am he whom he will shortly see dead, whereas I, Socrates, 
shall have then departed to the joys of the blessed.' 'Unless I 
thought/ said he, 'that I should depart to other gods who are 
wise and good, and to the society of men who have gone from 
this life, and are better now than when among us, I might well be 
troubled at death. But now I believe assuredly that I shall go 
to the gods who are perfectly good, and I hope to dwell with wise 
and good men, so that I cannot be afflicted at the thought of dy- 
ing; believing that death is not the end of us, and that it will be 
much better for the good than for the evil/ He claimed an ever- 
present demon, so called by the Greeks, or tutelary genius, as 
termed by the Latins, or presiding or ministering angel with us, 
who always faithfully warned or wooed him every day, and as this 
was omitted on the day of his death, he hence considered his 
death no evil. His last words, when sinking under the fatal hem- 
lock, were a charge to pay a debt he had overlooked, and not 
' neglect it.' 

Speak, spirit of Plato, who rent the curtain that binds the fu- 
ture of other men's visions, and read through the vista of unborn 
years ! ' The soul is self -motive. That which is self-motive, in- 
herently and perpetually moves. But that which always moves 
with an inward motion, always lives. Hence the soul is immor- 
tal. Again, nothing foreign to itself can ever destroy it ; and its 
own evils, such as injustice and wickedness, cannot destroy it, 
since they render it, if possible, more alive and sensible to suffer- 
ing than before.' And again, says Plato in the Phaedrus : ' We 
are then initiated into and made spectators of entire, simple, 
quietly stable and blessed visions, resident in a pure light, being 
ourselves pure, and liberated from this surrounding vestment 
which we call body, and to which we are now bound like an oyster 
to its shell. Among the eternal emanations of which I have 
spoken were not only gods of different orders, — the intelligible 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 141 

and intellectual, the supercelestial and .mundane, — but also de- 
mons, heroes, and the souls of men. The demons were an order 
of beings superior to ourselves, some good and some bad, occupy- 
ing a sort of middle between gods and men/ While Plato thus 
perceived a germ or principle in man which was to unfold into 
future perfections, he also had a just conception of the average of 
mankind on the inceptive earth-plane, as is evidenced by his re- 
mark that ' man is a biped without feathers.' 

Lend us another echo of your eloquence, Cicero, and proclaim 
to mortal man the immortality of his human soul divine. 'I look 
forward with pleasure to the glorious day when I shall go into 
the great assembly of spirits, and shall be gathered to the best of 
mankind who have gone before me. I feel impelled by the desire 
of joining the society of my two departed friends, your illustrious 
fathers, whom I reverenced and loved. 0, illustrious day, when 
I shall go hence to that divine council and assembly of souls, 
when I shall escape from this crowd and rabble ; for I shall go, 
not only to those illustrious men of whom I have before spoken, 
but also to my Cato, than whom one more excellent in goodness 
was never born.' 

^schilus, in his Persas, represents the soul of Darius, deceased, 
as still possessing the thoughts and feelings of his former life. 
The dying Plotinus exclaimed, ' 1 am struggling to liberate the 
divinity within me ! ' Proculus, a senator, took an oath to the 
Roman Senate, that the spirit of Romulus, founder of the Roman 
Empire, appeared to him and communicated. This oath was con- 
sidered by the Romans a binding and solemn pledge of truth, and 
was called ' religion.'* 

Let us listen to the great Persian Shah, contemporaneous with 
some of the early writers of Bible history, who cared not for im- 
mortal life and love : Cyrus, whose domestic and parental affec- 
tions were as great as his genius and energy are famous as the 
conqueror of the rich Croesus of Lydia, and for taking the great- 
est city of antiquity, with solid walls of massive masonry a 
hundred feet high and nearly as thick, and about a hundred 
miles in circumference, by turning the river Euphrates, which 
flowed through walls and city, thus effecting an easy and unsus- 
pected entrance ; the king of the countrymen of Zoroaster, from 
whom originated the idea of a vicarious atonement, and who first 
taught the existence of an evil spirit, Ahriman, from which the 



142 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Jews, and thence we, have derived our present imaginary Devil ; 
which, however, according to Zoroaster, was to ultimately succomb 
to the good spirit Ormudy. But hear Cyrus, nearly six centuries 
before the advent of Christ : — 

' Think not, my dearest children, that when I depart from you I 
shall be no more; remember that my soul, even while I lived 
among you, was invisible : yet by my action you were sensible it 
existed in this body; believe it therefore existing still, though it 
still be unseen. How quickly would the honors of illustrious men 
perish after death, if their souls performed nothing to preserve 
their fame ! for my part, I could never think that the soul, which, 
while in a mortal body lives, when departed from it, dies ; or that 
its consciousness is lost when it is discharged out of an unconscious 
habitation ; on the contrary, it most truly exists when it is freed 
from all corporeal alliance.' 

'When 'reft of all yon widowed sire appears 
A lonely hermit in the vale of years : 
Say can the world one joyous thought bestow 
To friendship weeping at the couch of woe ? 
No ! but a brighter soothes the last adieu, — 
Souls of impassioned mould, she speaks to you I 
Weep not, she says, at nature's transient pain, 
Congenial spirits part to meet again.' 

' If in that frame no deathless spirit dwell, 
If that faint murmur be the last farewell, 
If fate unite the faithful but to part, 
Why is their memory sacred to the heart? ' 

1 To have been and not to be is less than unborn.' 

Then man must be immortal, or God cannot be good, inasmuch 
as goodness would never create and implant happy affections, cher- 
ished feelings of friendship, angelic love, and irrepressible desire 
to live on with loved friends to demonstrate goodness, and then 
tear all these cherished ligaments asunder and lacerate the very 
heart of love with the relentless destiny of certain separation. 
But the very implantation of these holy, happy, and hallowed 
affections proves goodness, unless we can imagine cruelty to be a 
predominating attribute to his character. Therefore, man is im- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 143 

mortal, and by proper effort at a proper development may attain 
the abodes of bliss and love as the heritage of his hopes. 

'It must be so ; Plato, thou reasonest well ! 
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality ? 
Or whence this sacred dread and inward horror 
Of falling into naught ? Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself and startles at destruction ? 

'T is the Divinity that stirs within us ; 

f T is Heaven itself that points an hereafter 

And intimates an eternity to man. 

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 

Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years ; 

But thou shalt nourish in immortal youth, 

Unhurt amidst the war of elements, 

The wreck of matter and the crush of world.' 

Then we conclude man is immortal, or a good Creator would 
never have endowed him with these glorious aspirations to be 
ruthlessly crushed with the relentless destiny of certain death. 

More especially, again, when we know that he has implanted 
within us no natural appetite or desire of our bodies, but for 
which he has also placed within our reach the means of its grati- 
fication. But we ardently desire an undying union of love and 
friendship ; therefore we infer he will also give us this best and 
brightest boon. 

Goethe says, ' I could in no wise dispense with the happiness of 
believing in our future existence, and could say with Lorenzo De 
Medici, that those are dead for this life even who have no hope of 
hereafter.' 

We might quote from Swedenborg, the illuminated seer of Ger- 
many, and the philosophic and scientific Christian of the eigh- 
teenth century, who lived and moved in mind among the angels, 
and who predicted correctly the day and hour of his death ; from 
Blackstone, the great legal philosopher of England, and his anno- 
tator, Chitty ; from the epic Iliad of Homer, and the anterior 
Valmika, the Homer of Hindostan ; the rural Bucolics of Virgil ; 
the plaintive pleas of Ossian, who sang, ' spirits ride on beams of 
fire ' ; the stately tones of Shelley ; the original Chaucer ; the 
dramatic life-pictures of Shakespeare ; all the inspired spirits of 



144 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

song along the stream of time hymn the hopes of the hnman heart 
to be beyond the dim horizon that bounds our visual organs. 
And the Wesleys, founders of modern Methodism (in contradis- 
tinction to the Methodism, Popish, of France, several centuries 
previous), with their whole families, witnessed in their houses for 
a long time strange and marvellous manifestations of spirit power, 
but, like all others, while fully believing, did not understand them 
or their mighty significance. And Adam Clark, their biographer, 
familiar with many languages, and author of popular and volumi- 
nous commentaries on the Bible, acknowledged their superhuman 
and ultramundane origin. Wordsworth believed that prophets 
lived in all ages ; Coleridge claimed supernal inspiration ; and 
Eaphael professed to derive the ideal of his splendid paragon of 
beauty from his immortalized mother. 

We might go on and quote from Sir Matthew Hale, one of the 
founders of English jurisprudence, and St. Augustine, one of the 
fathers of the Church, and a great many others of the most noted 
characters that illume the pages of the past, from the earliest to 
the latest ages. 

But for our limited time these must suffice to establish the fact 
that, from the earliest ages to the present propitious period, man- 
kind have cherished a vague belief m their immortality and minis- 
tering angels in the form of their friends who formerly lived among 
them in the flesh. 

The Mehestani, and Eastern Magi, who were disciples of Zoro- 
aster, believed in the immortality of the soul, in rewards and pun- 
ishments after death, and in the resurrection of the body. Now 
this philosopher of Urmia and his disciples flourished 570 years 
before Christ ; and only the later prophets of sacred history, Mi- 
cah, Haggai, Ezekiel, et alii, who lived contemporaneous or later, 
that speak in any prominent terms of immortality ; the earlier 
prophets generally ignoring it altogether. Are we not bound, 
therefore, to give this credit to Zoroaster, while musing in spirit- 
ual meditation, as recorded, twenty years in the wild solitudes of 
Elbrooz, like St. John in the wilderness nearly six centuries later ? 
And to Buddha, and Brahma, of Hindostan, two or three centuries 
yet earlier ? And to the l Code of Menu/ embodying law, relig- 
ion, and philosophy, earlier than all, about a thousand years before 
the Christian era ? The few sacred prophets who flourished an- 
terior to these philosophers, always held present or temporal 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 145 

reward as the motive for good, or what they esteemed good, but 
which we now know to be in a great many, if not majority of 
instances bad. The ancient Hindoo philosophers, the Parsees, 
and the Oriental Magi, were the first who held future rewards and 
punishments, that I can find in all history ; and the Jews from 
their intercourse with Egypt, and it with Persia, derived their 
ideas on this subject. A Christian writer, Schlegel, in his ' His- 
tory of Literature,' says : * Perhaps among no other ancient peo- 
ple did the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the belief 
in a future state of existence, ever acquire such a mastery over all 
principles and all feelings, and exert such influence over all the 
judgments and all the actions of men as among the Indians ' (of 
Hindostan). And the idea of an incarnated deity was originated 
and entertained five centuries before the advent of Christ by all 
the Scandinavian nations, as the Hindoo god Vishnu took upon 
himself the form of man and periodically appeared upon earth ; 
and the destruction of the world by general conflagration, as well 
as its creation from chaos, was recorded or proclaimed about the 
same time in the Valuspa, a book of prophecy by Vala ; that evil 
spirits entered and disturbed the peace of the world ; that good 
and evil are in constant conflict ; that Thor bruises the serpent's 
head, etc. Is it at all strange, then, that these ideas, as well as 
other parallels, should have been derived from that ancient relig- 
ious people, when we know that the very names of the days of the 
week, as adopted by all subsequent people, and still universally 
retained, were derived from their theology, which we now call 
mythology, just as our prevailing theology will by future genera- 
tions be called mythology? Sunday is so called because they 
worshipped the sun on that day; Monday, they worshipped the 
moon ; Wednesday, after their god Wodin, god of battles, Wod ins- 
day ; Thursday, after Thor, god of thunder, Thorsday ; Friday, 
after Frea, god of winds ; Tuesday, after Tisa, god of litigation, 
and wife of Thor, still pronounced in portions of Scotland Ties- 
day ; Saturday, after Saeter, whom they worshipped respectively 
on those days. 

Those Hindoo Indians were also the inventors or discoverers of 
decimal ciphers, the greatest achievement, next to the alphabet, 
of the human intellect. Just think a moment of this, by the use- 
of only ten marks, or figures, or characters, by their various posi- 
tions and infinite combinations, any number can be represented 



146 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

and expressed, from fractional portions of one up to millions, 
billions, quintillions, decillions, vigintillions, etc., without limit. 

According to a work entitled ' India and the Indians/ the Jews 
had full knowledge of the Hindoo theology, but the latter had 
none of the former. Now if the Jews deserve the credit of divine 
inspiration for their theology, when it is acknowledged they 
might have borrowed it from the Hindoos, a fortiori should we 
accord a greater credit for divine inspiration to the Hindoos, 
when it is acknowledged they could not possibly have derived 
it from the Jews, having no acquaintance with them, and both 
systems of theology the same. But I cannot believe they had no 
knowledge of the Jews, because, if the Bible history be true, they 
undoubtedly branched off into Southern Asia, from the primal 
centre around the Euphrates. Now, it might be objected, that 
these ancient records of religion so far antedate the Christian era, 
that they could not have existed, as the art of writing must then 
have been unknown. But this may be retorted on the orthodox 
objector, as he claims a greater antiquity for his orthodox theology ; 
if his argument invalidate my history, it equally invalidates his." 

If the immortality of the soul be trae, the next questions which 
arise are these: where are Adam and his posterity ? where are our 
own dear ones who have gove before ? 

" If we leave our orb and its immediate environs, in order to 
imagine any location beyond the range of astronomical bodies, as 
abodes for our spirit friends, it would place the locality at a dis- 
tance, according to Herschel, requiring nineteen hundred thousand 
years for souls to travel, moving with the velocity of light, two 
hundred thousand miles in a second. Our first parents, Adam 
and Eve, have by this time only got one-three-hundred-and-six 
teenth part of the way to heaven, though they started early in 
the morning of creation (by the Mosaic record), and have been 
travelling with the speed of light ever since. If we infer such a 
general and distant place of reception for spirits, then in that celes- 
tial emporium every soul from all the myriad of worlds must congre- 
gate. ' Far more rational would it seem,' says Prof. Hare, ( that our 
heaven should be associated with our own native planet, in the 
welfare of which the past history and future prospects of the souls 
who were born upon it must take pre-eminent interest.' What a 
delightful, what a happy thought is this, that immediately after our 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 147 

dissolution, which really is the date of our true nativity, our grand 
natal day into life, unencumbered, like our first birth from a more 
encumbered and confined life, to one more enlarged and unencum- 
bered, that, instead of being transported to remote and unknown 
places of incalculable distances, we can be near by, and look back at 
friends depositing our old casket, now tenantless, in the tomb ; the 
casket of clay which we so lately inhabited, and through which, as 
a necessary material medium, we moved among material things, 
in a sphere of physical materials ; that from thenceforward and 
forever after, without end, we may continue to linger around the 
loved localities of our infantile associations, the old homestead, 
our native hill, the rock spring, the purling brook, the tall pines 
moaning in the wind, the tough tupelo, from which we made our 
boyish tooth-brush, the stately poplars, the umbrageous elm, the 
stalwart oak, or early, sweet, and shady maple, where we passed 
the happy boyhood time of our earliest years ; that we can always 
be personally present with our loved children and friends, partici- 
pating in their pleasures, and rejoicing in their progress, or 
sympathizing in their sorrows, and mourning, though only for a 
brief season, over their moral miseries, which must accompany 
their moral retrogression, which also must of necessity be only 
temporary, for God's works all grow upward, with occasional tem- 
porary retrograde movements, which in His boundless destiny of 
eternity only amount to momentary retardations. I avow it, that 
this faith, or rather philosophy, that my cherished and revered 
friends gone before can be, and are present to witness with grief, 
or even the slightest shade of sorrow, my every action of sin or 
of wrong, has the greatest power to restrain me in every impulse 
of passion or temptation to sin, of all the influences and agencies 
of which I am cognizant, or which have ever been brought to 
bear upon my moral actions. It is to me a shield of celestial 
temper. The wish that we have often heard of being able to visit 
the earth again, in one hundred or five hundred years, is to be 
gratified every hour, every year, every century, and forever. That 
from a contiguous standpoint in eternity, we can witness the pro- 
gress and improvement of our children, and grandchildren, and 
posterity, through all future generations, on the initial inceptive 
plane of earth below us, as erstwhile we witnessed their bodily 
growth for a few years in the clay, — this is a glorious thought, 
and modern science with trumpet tongue proclaims its truth. 



148 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

As an illustration of scientific precision and astronomic accuracy, 
the discovery of the planet Neptune (named originally Le Verrier, 
from its discoverer, in 1846) is one of the greatest triumphs which 
the history of science records. As certain perturbations of the 
movements of Saturn led astronomers to suspect the existence of a 
remoter planet, which suspicions were fully confirmed in the discov- 
ery of Uranus, so also after the discovery of Uranus, certain irreg- 
ularities were perceived in his motions, that led distinguished as- 
tronomers of the day to the belief that even beyond the planet Ura- 
nus still another undiscovered planet existed, to reward the labors 
of the discoverer. Accordingly, Le Verrier, a young French astron- 
omer, urged by his friend Arago, determined to devote himself to 
the attempt at discovery. With indefatigable industry he prepared 
new tables of planetary fciotion, from which he determined the per- 
turbations of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus ; and as early 
as June, 1846, in a paper presented to the Academy of Sciences in 
Paris, he pointed out where the suspected planet would be on the 1st 
of January, 1847. He subsequently determined the mass and the 
elements of the orbits of the planet, and that, too, before it had 
been seen by a human eye. On the 18th of September of 1846, 
he wrote to his friend, M. G-aller, of Berlin, requesting him to 
direct his telescope to a certain point in the heavens, where he 
suspected the stranger to be. His friend complied with his re- 
quest, and on the first evening of examination discovered a strange 
star of the eighth magnitude, which had not been laid down in 
any of the maps of that portion of the heavens. The following 
evening it was found to have moved in a direction and with a 
velocity very nearly like that which Le Verrier had pointed out. 
The planet was found within less than one degree of the place 
where Le Verrier had located it. It was subsequently ascertained 
. that a young English mathematician, Mr. Adams, of Cambridge, 
had been engaged in the same computations, and had arrived at 
nearly the same results with Le Verrier. 

What shall we say of science, then, that enables its devoted fol- 
lowers to reach out into space, and feel successfully in the dark 
and distant ocean of immensity for an object more than twenty- 
eight millions of miles distant ? 

We live in a wonder-working universe, which becomes more 
and more wonderful as we learn more of it, instead of being 
brought more within our comprehension. When we compare 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 149 

what we know with the knowledge of the savages, it may appear 
a mountain of learning and science ; but this very learning and 
science only makes us see still more how great is our igno- 
rance ! " 

" We are beyond incertitude or doubt immortal ; our immortal- 
ity is demonstrated by ocular, tangible, positive proof ; this im- 
mortality consists of our very haecceity, our real personal self, our 
loves, friendships, memories, knowledge, intelligence. And science 
proves that we must take these with us or we take nothing, for 
nothing of ourself remains more than seven years, except these 
moral memories, these spiritual principles. We retain them here 
through all our years: shall we lose them there? They consti- 
tute our personality, our haecceity here : if we do not take them, 
what will constitute us there ? That we shall recognize each 
other by physical features and form unchanged, but refined and 
improved by the shaking off of the old clay covering, and shall 
unerringly know each other by spirit acting direct upon spirit, 
without obstruction, or deception, of animal covering and deceit- 
ful flesh ; hypocrisy will lose its mask. Our present plane of 
existence being one and the first of seven, there are six concentric 
circles, zones, or spheres around us, each rising higher above the 
other in the blue ether; the first commencing about fifty miles 
above us, where our atmosphere is supposed by some to cease, but 
which I suppose has no definite bounds, bat is gradually merged 
and lost in the bright circumambient realm of pure and spotless 
spirituality. That these spheres thus near and adjacent to us, 
with a connecting and continuous element of intercourse and in- 
tercommunication, are the bright abodes of our departed friends 
and all progressed excarnated men and women. That we enter 
those spheres just as we leave this plane, with our vices or virtues, 
ignorance or intelligence; with every feature and lineament of 
face and limb, as developed in the body ; the same form and con- 
figuration in the spiritualized state, of which in fact the body was 
the mere visible representative, and from which it took its form ; 
with personal identity and individuality intact and unchanged. 
That the first of these spheres next adjoining our present rudi- 
mental plane is comparatively dark and imperfect, a Gehenna, 
Hades, Sheol, Tartarus, or Hell, in which all unprogressed, low, 
ignorant, vicious, wicked spirits of men congregate by a natural 
affinity or spiritual gravitation. That this region is thus dark — 



150 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I give it as my philosophy of the fact [Rembert] — because inter- 
mediate from the earth plane where physical light is produced by 
atmospheric undulations, and the higher spheres where purer 
light is the result of spiritual illumination. Beyond our atmos- 
phere is probably no physical, but all spiritual light, increasing as 
we leave the earth's opaque surface. That the more progressed 
and enlightened, the true and the good, with angelic aspirations, 
will be attracted to the second or higher spheres, suited to their 
tastes, capacities, congenialities, and developments. That pro- 
gress, universal progress, all working a perfect optimism, is God's 
grand, primordial, fundamental law, by which the wicked and 
low in the first sphere will gradually improve and unfold into 
higher spheres of intelligence and happiness; and that all will 
progress and develop into new beatitudes, new grandeurs, and 
new glories, ever enjoying without satiety, ever ascending without 
exhaustion, forever fed and sustained by the all-prolific fountain 
of all spirit, the eternal Father. 0, what a sublime philosophy is 
this for the vision of the soul ! what a happy consolation, an ever- 
present bliss always welling up in the heart of the good and the 
true, the pure and the splendid, and may be poor and despised in 
the view of the vain, — and there are millions such in this death- 
drifting stream of time, — to contemplate and hope for, ay, to feel 
an assurance of and to Jcnoiv this immortal heaven as the heritage 
of heaven eternity. A home of happiness unalloyed, of purity 
unspotted, mind immaculate, and of eternal, expanding, progres- 
sive, boundless felicity. The bruised and broken heart healed 
and made whole ; loved and long-lost friends regained ; cherished 
friendships of the buried years of time reclaimed; severed associa- 
tions, hallowed memories revived to burn on imperishable altars ; 
tender feelings, blasted hopes, -deep devoted love of children, kin- 
dred, friends and families and all the splendid affections of the 
human soul divine, that glow like jewels in this dim old casket 
of earth, shall be restored, reunited, gathered up to the fountains 
of the Father, and kindled with the new lustre of immortal 
glory ; 0, the rapturous, transporting joy of this heavenly reunion ! 
Perhaps, when we leave our tenantless body and look back at our 
friends of earth weeping over the cold casket, the first to hail us 
at the portals of those blest abodes will be a cherub child, 
whose prattling ceased on earth ere it felt the stain of sin, or 
heaved a sigh of sorrow ; or a loved, adored, long-lost mother's 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 151 

voice, that so often soothed our little storms of trouble, and who 
so many a time and oft bedewed our infant pillow with tears that 
none but she could shed, will be the first to welcome and embrace 
in that radiant realm of love. These are some of the beatitudes 
promised in this scientific revelation to the honest and energetic 
and true. And the unsullied atmosphere of intellect, unfettered 
from the flesh, intellect disencumbered and eliminated from the 
gross manacles of this animal world ; to move in miud, mind mu- 
tually mirrored in its majesty ; creation mapped before us with its 
myriad suns and systems that constitute the great dome of God's 
universe, all radiant with the luminous beams of infinite wisdom 
that pervade the outskirts of creation, and the whole a splendid 
panorama of enraptured vision : these are some of the privileges 
and pleasures which shall doubtless be fully realized by the exalted 
denizens of these glorious mansions of immortality." 

"We shall now present for consideration some of the so-called 
miracles narrated in the Scriptures, as compared with the spiritual 
manifestations of the present day, viewed from a philosophical 
and scientific standpoint. 

" One of the most wonderful works performed by Christ, or 
rather Jesus, the most 'miraculous' is that of raising Lazarus 
from the dead. Now, if that could not have been done, and if 
this cannot now be done by natural laws and on natural philoso- 
phy, it never -was -done or performed at all. But it can thus be 
done, and no doubt was performed. Jesus said, ' Lazarus is not 
dead but sleepeth.' Then when he perceived his disciples under- 
stood him to mean a natural sleep, he corrected this false 
impression by saying, ' He is dead.' As for the remark of Martha, 
that decomposition had commenced, having been dead four days, 
it was only her opinion, which proved incorrect. We have many 
authenticated cases of this kind on record ; in the Book of Kings 
it is said that Elisha raised the dead, the vital functions having 
been suspended however but a few hours. 

Eev. Wm. Tennent, Presbyterian clergyman of New Jersey, lay 
dead (apparently) for three days, and was about to be buried, 
when he revived. The wife of Mr. Lancaster, first delegate from 
Washington Territory, died (to all appearances) out on the West- 
ern plains, and was brought on a litter by friendly Indians, a 
distance of three hundred miles, to Fort Laramie, occupying eight 



152 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

days, when on the completion of the preparations for her inhuma- 
tion, she revived and recovered. Hon. Mr. Osbore, military secreta- 
ry to the British Indian mission, records a case of an Indian Fakir 
having lain entombed ten months, and upon exhumation was re- 
suscitated and restored to life and health ; if I am not mistaken, 
this author was witness to the whole proceeding from beginning to 
end. This cataleptic condition of trance, resembling hybernation 
of animals, in which there is a total suspension of all physical and 
perhaps spiritual dynamics, is and has been frequently overcome 
by the power of will, of love, of magnetism in another organism, 
operating upon the unconscious and negative subject; just as 
asthma, asphyxia, catalepsy, pleurisy, rheumatism, neuralgia, and 
all deseases both acute and chronic, of short or long standing, are 
now frequently cured, and sometimes in a few minutes, when all 
known therapeutic agents of the medical faculty have failed ; and 
also as the most painful and dangerous capital cases of surgery 
are now performed with facility, without pain, and with little 
hemorrhage and with little inflammation ; all under the wonderful 
influence of magnetism or vital electricity. 

As this involves an important part of the philosophy of life, a 
brief explanation may be necessary, with a little deviation from 
the general system of my subject. All the physical functions, 
and the spiritual faculties, and the entire vital dynamics of the 
human machine, are dependent on, and under the control of mag- 
netism, or vital electricity; and as this is in redundancy or defi- 
ciency, so is the character of disease. If not in all (as contended 
by some), a large proportion of our diseases originate from an 
unbalanced or disturbed condition of this subtile fluid ; as in ex- 
cess, inflammations follow, so a want of the proper quantum is fol- 
lowed by a want of vital action ; this excess is removed or abstracted 
by proper manipulations from a perfect and harmonic magnetizer, 
and the process is expedited by the application of ammonia, vine- 
gar, or water, as this facilitates the passage of the superabundant 
electricity : but not oil, or fat, or grease, as this obstructs. This 
process is illustrated in Christ and his apostles relieving the sick 
' by the laying on of hands,' which was done for several centuries, 
and is now a very common occurrence. By proper manifestations, 
I mean making the passes from the deranged point outwards, like 
magnetizing a piece of metal ; for when the direction is reversed 
a contrary result follows. When there is a deficiency of this vital 



THE UNSEALED. BOOK. 153 

force, the contact of a positive, vigorous magnetizer will impart 
the requisite amount, and restore the proper vitality : as exempli- 
fied in Elisha, restoring the suspended animation of the child 
apparently dead ; with many such cases on record, and also by 
the force of a potent, perfect will, as Christ restoring Lazarus, 
with many similar facts well authenticated. 

The splendid and philosophic S. B. Britton, in his magnificent 
work entitled ' Man and his Kelations,' relates from a Memphis 
paper: ' A married couple were on their way from New Orleans 
up the river, when the husband sickened and died. The bereaved 
widow landed at Memphis with the remains, where she made ar- 
rangements for the funeral. The form of her bosom friend was 
about to be conveyed to the scene of its final repose, but fond af- 
fection demanded the privilege of one last, lingering look, and 
accordingly the lid was removed from the coffin. Bending over 
the cold and apparently lifeless form, she bathed the brow with 
her scalding tears, and fervently kissed the frigid lips. In this 
great struggle, love triumphed over death. There was one who 
had "slept" as long, and doubtless as profoundly, as Lazarus; but 
the Divine Spirit that animates all things — acting through the 
mediumship of a frail woman — dissolved death's icy chains, and 
set the captive free. That man recovered, inspired with new en- 
ergy, and gratitude to the Being in whose hand are the issues of 
life and death.' Again from the same superb author : ' The form 
of Lazarus was in a perfectly negative state ; and a great physi- 
cal, spiritual, and divine magnet, in the person and power of Jesus, 
stood at the door of the sepulchre. The powers of the heavens, 
acting through the concentrated energies of his mind and the 
subtile agents of the natural world, established the necessary con- 
nection. Virtue descended and went out from Jesus to quicken 
the lifeless form. The vital fluids began to circulate ; the life- 
giving energy was transfused through all the veins and arteries ; 
a subtile, all-communicating spirit ran along the avenues of sen- 
sation, and the nerves moved like the strings of an untuned lyre, 
when they are swept by a mighty wind. A loud voice re-echoed 
through the cavern, and the sleeper awoke, to walk again with the 
living.' Moreover, through psychometry, or clairvoyance, or 
clairaudience, or some other means of clear perception, more won- 
derful than this, and as well authenticated as these, disease is de- 
tected and described, perceived and prescribed for at a distance of 



154 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

hundreds of miles, without the least previous knowledge, acquaint- 
ance, or hearsay ; and correctly, too, as is attested by the success, 
when of long and unsuccessful treatment by the old profession. 
But all this is effected through the laws of nature, — there is no 
other way to effect anything, — laws which we are just beginning to 
find out and unfold. No (to resume), it is not the facts we deny, 
unless in direct contravention to well-known philosophy, but the 
miraculous phase of the facts ; nor are we, on the other hand, 
necessarily committed to their affirmation." 

We will next take the conversion of St. Paul. " A great many 
Protestant Christians, especially of the Episcopalians, deny this 
sudden change of heart, or change of life, called conversion ; but 
St. Paul is generally cited and urged as a case in point and proof 
of instantaneous conversion. This case of St. Paul, however, is 
not one of miracle, but of philosophy, just stated like all others of 
the same analogy. I would like to argue this question at length, 
but must desist. Nevertheless, as I condemn dogmatics in oth- 
ers, I must not be guilty myself of dogmatism ; therefore, I feel 
bound to say, that while this ' conversion ' by the direct act of God 
himself, or his Holy Ghost, as claimed by the orthodox, may be 
within the bounds of possibility, it is certainly much more rational, 
and reasonable, and natural, to believe it effected, as I have said, 
in accordance with known laws of nature and a beautiful philoso- 
phy, which indeed detracts nothing from its intrinsic value, but 
rather adds to its comforts to know that our angel friends are 
ever around and near, to hear, and heed, and help us. And 
whether the influence be the direct action of our Father, God, or 
of a vicarious Christ, or of a mysterious Holy Ghost, or of our 
progressed, excarnated, and spiritualized friends, in the form of 
angels, it is hallowed and happy, purifying and felicitous, and 
should be encouraged, cultivated, and cherished ; not merely em- 
braced during temporary popular excitement, to be immediately 
disregarded, and decided as popular illusion ; all puerile excite- 
ment may be thus decided, but not these true, splendid spiritual 
manifestations, and happy impartations of the heavenly world, 
called by some ' conversion,' or any other name. This rational 
and natural philosophy — rational because natural, and natural 
because rational — also explains and clears the mystery from the 
condition of trance, so frequent, particularly in revival excitements. 
St. Paul's celebrated trance, as well as his conversion, all come 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 155 

within the sphere and purview of this splendid philosophy of 
spirit power and angelic influence and intercourse. It likewise 
explicates the otherwise strange medical fact, that persons in this 
condition of trance, or in any under the control of spirit power, 
invariably recover, after remaining for hours pulseless, and appar- 
ently lifeless, as, for instance, the case recorded by Dr. Chegne of 
Col. Tovvnshend, of Scotland, whose heart ceased to beat, no pulse, 
no respiration, his entire -frame cold and rigid, features shrunk 
and colorless, all to such extent that three medical men pronounced 
him dead. Now, we know that this condition of the physical sys- 
tem, originating from functional, structural, or any other cause 
than spiritual, is certain dissolution. Spiritual mediums are thus 
controlled for hours, and we have seen persons at revival meetings 
in the same condition, with their vital energies prostrated, and 
physical functions almost, some entirely, suspended, and wondered 
at their easy and perfect recovery, without injury, when they are, 
as most frequently, of fragile frames and feeble vitality, and much 
weaker cause and less excitement otherwise would prove fatal. 
This philosophy of modern science explains it all satisfactorily 
and consolitorily. 

But, says the Christian of miraculous faith, we feel and witness 
a like internal evidence, and know whereof we speak. Now, right 
here we open an interesting metaphysical, pneumatological, psy- 
chical question, illustrated and displayed to a great degree at 
popular camp-meetings, and other religious revivals. This phe- 
nomenon is scientifically known as pathetism. I have witnessed 
and experienced it myself, in its most wonderful displays. We 
have seen proud, strong men fall in fear and trembling under its 
mighty influence, and young, guileless girls of sixteen summers 
cry in the most piteous accents of deep agony and travail of soul, 
and pour out their tender hearts in tears for mercy, from sure, 
sudden, and impending doom. Mercy for what ? Had they ever 
sinned, these guileless girls ? Ay, and we have seen them rise in 
renewed strength, suddenly energized from an unseen source, and 
heard shouts of happiness ring out from their little temples, like 
echoes from immortal melodies, while bright effulgence gleamed 
through their glistening tears, like the play of sparkling sunlight 
through pearly rain-drops. Now, whence and wherefore is this ? 
You affirm it to be ' conversion ' by the direct action of God. I 
aver it is not ' conversion,' for their after lives, soon as the tran- 



156 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

sient influence is over, proves no change of heart, or change of 
life, or permanent conversion of any kind. Neither is it the di- 
rect action of the great God, for he cannot thus contravene his 
own character and immutable laws, by working a miracle in a 
human ' conversion,' to be immediately set aside, frustrated, and 
falsified. True philosophy of pathetism as evinced in revivals is, 
first, a great many minds are so constituted, that they may per- 
suade themselves, by constant, assiduous effort, to believe any- 
thing they have an intense will and desire to believe ; hence, by 
their intense will and effort, they believe they are converted, which 
cannot be retorted on the evidence of science ; or, second, the 
well-known mesmeric sympathy epidemic, in a crowd of high- 
wrought feeling ; or, third, the psychological power of the opera- 
tor (preacher) over the congregation ; or, fourth, the actual 
presence of angelic or spirit friends, blessing them in their then 
peculiar condition of receptivity, which is the true condition of 
sincere prayer, and which, when kept up and persevered in, as is 
the case in a few instances (St. Paul for one), the ' conversion ' 
will continue and be permanent to this extent, no more. 

All these wonderful manifestations and mysterious phenomena 
we witness at large revivals are wrought by and through some or 
all of these means, the natural operations of causes well known 
and understood by the scientific philosopher. The great differ- 
ences and variations in the act and process of ' conversion/ accord- 
ing to the different characters and temperaments of the various 
subjects, some requiring long-continued and persistent efforts, 
others proving of ready facility, comport with the same differences 
in mesmeric subjects and spiritual mediums, all under the same 
principles and laws, some requiring long laborious efforts, others 
evincing a ready aptitude to this peculiar influence under the 
control of mind or spirit, whether in or out of the flesh : they are 
mutually corroborative and expository. This likewise accounts 
for the otherwise unaccountable and anomalous fact that the 
most wicked and hardened sinners are often the easiest of conver- 
sion, and the most upright and exemplary characters the most 
difficult of conversion. And this philosophy also explains the 
otherwise inexplicable mystery of some preachers, like Caughy 
and Spurgeon, for examples, being so successful in revivals ; for 
it cannot be attributed to extra piety, as it is well known that 
they are frequently vain and vindictive, unless this be considered 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 157 

extra piety, which indeed is according to the principles of some 
religionists. While on the other hand some of the most humble, 
honest, pious, and self-denying preachers are the least successful 
in the cause of revivals and conversions. 

Everybody has this element in greater or less degree, suscepti- 
ble of mesmeric influence or spirit control, called i conversion.' 
But while you assert in these phenomena of revivals a supernal 
and supernatural agency, you deny it in all others. You aver all 
other modern spiritual manifestations are not preternatural or 
supernal, but the result of deception, delusion, an intellectual 
epidemic, or some mysterious, unknown, incarnated agency of 
mundane nature ; while I affirm them to be demonstrations of 
spiritual or supernal agency. 

In the case of revivals you assert them to be due to supernal 
agency, and I too well know causes and elements existing in the 
human mind while incarnated as well as excarnated. The differ- 
ence is, I can account for and explain my opinions on principles 
of natural philosophy ; but you cannot account for or explain 
yours on any known principles whatever, unless you claim mere 
faith as the principle, which is accepting my philosophy of the 
delusion. Spirit intercourse you reject through blind ignorance ; 
revival conversion you accept through blind faith : when here we 
have a philosophy which explains both on scientific principles of 
demonstration. Will you plunge the abysmal Scylla and Charyb- 
dis of faith and ignorance on the one hand, or on the other climb 
the clear mountain of philosophy and truth, around whose sum- 
mit play the selectest lights of science ? Nor can it be retorted 
on Spiritualists that they are as liable to delusion in believing in 
spiritual inspiration as the old religionists in believing in conver- 
sion by the Holy Ghost, or the special pardon of sins by the direct 
act of God. We have the natural laws of natural philosophy to 
explain and vindicate ours, while they have no law and no philos- 
ophy to account for theirs, but all in contravention. All known 
laws of nature and philosophy refute their faith as futile and delu- 
sive, but not detrimental or pernicious to a large portion of the 
human family. In short and pithy anecdote, ' conversion ' fre- 
quently amounts to this: 'Parson , have you noticed any 

change in B since he was converted and joined the church V 

( yes, very great; before, when he went out to mend his fences 
on Sunday, he carried his axe on his shoulder, but now he carries 
it under his overcoat.' " 



158 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

" And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his 
brother and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 

And was transfigured before them : and his face did shine as 
the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 

And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
with him. 

" And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary 
the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that 
they might come and anoint him. 

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they 
came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 

And they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the 
stone from the door of the sepulchre ? 

And when they looked they saw that the stone was rolled away :• 
for it was very great. 

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting 
on the right side, clothed in a long white garment ; and they were 
affrighted." 

Here we have on record two cases of materialization. 

At the present day there are hundreds of similar manifestations. 
Dr. Watson says : — 

" When we were told, in our investigations in this city in 1856, 
that spirits would show themselves as they were in mortal life, 
we never expected to live to see it. Yet we have lived to see the 
prediction of Jesus literally fulfilled, that we should see the angels 
ascending and descending. This has not been done in a corner, 
but in the presence of from five to fifty persons at a time ; not 
alone in the gas-light, but in the sunlight in this city. 

We have been taking five monthly magazines devoted to Spirit- 
ualism, published in London, since our return from Europe, be- 
sides weekly papers in both hemispheres. They are giving accounts 
of new mediums for materialization all over the land. We could 
fill half a dozen such periodicals with these accounts, many of 
them written by those who had previously been sceptics. The 
spirits say that in less than five years they will be able to address 
public assemblies from the platform in full view of the audience. 
From what we have seen and heard in London and here, we are 
inclined to believe they will be able to do it." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 159 

A friend writes me that she has witnessed a case of materializa- 
tion in New York City which was the means of instantly convert- 
ing a sceptic, a lady who had for years been a persecutor of her 
husband for his belief. The spirit who materialized was an old 
lover of hers whom she said she had not thought of for a year. 
She said there could not be a shadow of doubt as to his iden- 
tity. 

"The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and 
rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." 

Again, when Peter and other of the apostles were imprisoned, 
" the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and 
brought them forth." 

There are many mediums at the present day through whose 
powers are enacted even more wonderful physical manifestations. 
Large and ponderable bodies are not only moved by the simple 
laying on of hands, but in many cases without visible contact, and 
ako to float in air as if but a feather's weight. Many mediums 
who have been confined in narrower than prison cells and bound 
with cords defying human skill to unloose, have been instantly 
and easily released and extricated by spiritual agency. 

" A hand from out of the invisible did once appear and write 
upon the walls of a banquet-room, and the form of another was 
put forth and took Ezekiel by a lock of his hair, and the spirit 
lifted him up between the earth and the heaven." 

Invisible hands at the present day write, not only upon walls, 
but in the very air itself, — to say nothing of the slate writing, 
— by which are given satisfactory tests, by names, dates, places, 
and circumstances, demonstrating the presence of the relatives or 
friends of the parties present, — the parties themselves being en- 
tire strangers to the medium. This writing is usually accom- 
plished by holding a slate with a bit of pencil upon it underneath 
a table, pressing up against the same, or by joining two slates 
with pencil between. The spirits have more than once attested 
their strength by wresting the slate from the hands of a strong 
man and breaking it in pieces. 

" Ignatius Loyola," says Rembert, " the founder of the Jesu- 
its, whom I 've been religiously reared to hate, who was sincere 
and devout in his religious lustrations, notwithstanding the atroci- 



160 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

ties of his later sectators, was frequently, as it is related, taken up 
bodily during his religious exercise. Prior to the modern philos- 
ophy spirit, I would have rejected this and all kindred stories as 
fabulous; but now I am prepared to believe it and receive it as 
true, these marvellous histories of the past, because we have them 
enacted now, at the present day, and have found a philosophy for 
them. Mr. Home is frequently taken up, without visible agency, 
and carried around in a room near the ceiling. Now what opera- 
tion of physical science or principle of physical philosophy does 
all this ? We know not, and nobody knows a physical element or 
combination of such elements adequate to this phenomenon, be- 
yond our detection. The only solution is mental or spiritual ; 
and whence and who and where the mind or spirit, if it be not our 
excarnated friends, now immortal angels, in contiguous spheres 
near to and communicating with us ? Then, ye men of science, 
fully unfold this mighty philosophy of a new element in human 
nature, a potent principle for no good, no purpose, to the creator 
or the creature, unless it reaches to a kindred spirit land whose 
love attractions draw us to those sweet shores of spirit empire, 
where we shall drink from near the fountain, and imbibe the 
vitalizing azure air that develops angelic intelligence, — the 
mighty multitude of happy life God is gathering around him, as 
a father gathers his children and binds their brows with garlands 
of beauty and love." 

" And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt 
not go up ; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them 
over against the mulberry-trees. 

And let it be when thou hearest the sound of a going in the 
tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself : for 
then shall the Lord go out before thee." 

" A young lady is engaged to be married to a gentleman who is 
a fine musician (particularly on the piano), and the day and hour 
set. Before the appointed time of their nuptial consummation 
he is accidentally killed. At her house grief takes the place of 
joy. When the appointed day arrives, and the clock strikes the 
hour when hilarity and happiness momentary should have reigned 
supreme, alas ! gloom, grief, and woe usurp their place ; tears 
flow instead of smiles, and the mansion is draped in mourning. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 161 

But hark ! from the neglected piano, on whi«h the lost intended 
had so often performed, in the deserted parlor, suddenly come 
ravishing strains of gushing melody. The startled family rush 
into the parlor and find the instrument pouring forth Ids favorite 
piece, which it had so often discoursed under his magic touch, and 
not a person present or in contact." 

We would ask if "the sound of a going in the tops of the mul- 
berry-trees " could be any more wonderful than this ; especially if 
angels are, as often represented, invested with " wings/' with which 
they might easily raise a gentle breeze. 

We read of Moses leading the children of Israel dry-shod across 
the Eed Sea. Napoleon Bonaparte did the same thing at the 
same place three thousand years later, from a now well-known 
etesian cause, — the prevalence of winds from a certain quarter 
rendering it entirely practicable. Again, we read of Moses being 
commanded to smite a rock at a certain place, and water came 
forth. Not long since we were reading an account of a gentleman 
in Chicago being advised by a spirit friend to dig in the earth at 
a certain place ; he followed the advice, despite the derision of his 
earthly friends, and sank an Artesian well. 

" And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, if 
the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them : but yet the 
word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. 

And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and 
went with the princes of Noah. 

And God's anger was kindled because he went ; and the angel 
of the Lord stood in the way, for an adversary against him. Now 
he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with 
him. 

And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way,, 
and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of 
the way and went into the field : and Balaam smote the ass, to* 
turn her into the way. 

But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, & 
wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. 

And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself 
unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall : and, 
he smote her again. 

And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow 



162 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

place, where was no way to turn, either to the right hand or to 
the left. 

And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down 
under Balaam : and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote 
the ass with a staff. 

And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto 
Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me 
these three times ? 

And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me : 
I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. 

And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which 
thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day ? was I ever 
wont to do so unto thee ? And he said, Nay. 

Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the an- 
gel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his 
hand : and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. 

And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou 
smitten thine ass these three times ? behold, I went out to with- 
stand thee, because thy way is perverse before me : 

And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times : 
unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, 
and saved her alive. 

And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned ; 
for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me : now 
therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again." 

This seems very strange, and doubtless the majority of readers 
believe that Balaam's ass actually spoke. Our version of the case 
is, that Balaam (or his ass) possessed the phase of mediumship 
called clairaudient. There are scores of mediums at the present 
day whose powers are such that conversations are held with voices 
outside of themselves, and when their mouths are closed and 
sealed with sticking-plaster. I have myself heard quite a lengthy 
discourse from a voice sounding like that of a strong, powerful 
man, the medium through whose powers it was accomplished be- 
ing a frail, delicate-looking woman with a weak voice. 

The question now is, which was the medium, Balaam or his 
ass ? As this is the only instance we know of on record, where 
an animal is said to have spoken, we should give Balaam the pref- 
erence, even though the ass was the first to perceive the angel- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 163 

presence; nor is that so yery mysterious, when we compare some 
of the great intellects of the present day with the poor, untaught, or 
self-taught Indian, whose discernment of spiritual influence is in 
the ascendant. Note, if you please, we only said some of our great 
intellects ; for, as we have before stated, many of our most intelli- 
gent and noble-minded men have broken through the veil of 
prejudice, and are among the stanch upholders of this beautiful 
philosophy. We will give an anecdote of Cuvier, the great scien- 
tist, whose brain was the largest ever measured. 

"In a dream the Devil appeared to Cuyier, and said he had 
come to devour him. Cuvier surveyed him thoroughly and ex- 
claimed, ' Horns, hoofs, granivorous. I ? m not afraid of you/ 
His Satanic Majesty also presented himself to one of the sable 
sons of Ham, whose race the Puritans are so eager to take to their 
bosoms, and who, it must be confessed, are equals of the latter in 
everything save shoddy, or the power of pecuniosity, and nasal 
psalm-singing on Sunday, in which latter, however, there is great 
rhythmic concord. Says Ham, 'Who dat?' ' The Devil, come 
after Ham.' ' Ham not here ; Ham ain't been here dese two 
months ! ' was the quick and silly answer of the ignorant and 
frightened Afric hero." 

" And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee ; 
and the mother of Jesus was there : 

And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 

And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto 
him, They have no wine. 

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee ? 
mine hour is not yet come. 

His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto 
you, do it. 

And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the man- 
ner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins 
apiece. 

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And 
they filled them up to the brim. 

And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the 
governor of the feast. And they bore it. 

When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made 
wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew 



164 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

the water knew), the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 
and saith nnto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth 
good wine ; and when men have well drunk, then that which is 
worse: but thou hast kept the good wine untilnow. 

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Oana of Galilee, and 
manifested forth his glory ; and his disciples believed on him." 

We will now call your attention to some of the marvels of mind 
as unfolded by modern biology or electrical psychology ; quoting 
first from Dr. Dodds, who has done more tha*n any. one else, per- 
haps, to evolve this magnificent science : — 

" The wonderful and startling phenomena that hover around 
it like so many invisible angels, and which are made manifest in 
the experiments produced, I have also candidly stated. They con- 
sist in the fact, that one human being can, through a certain ner- 
vous influence, obtain and exercise a power over another, so as to 
perfectly control his voluntary motions and muscular force ; and 
also produce various impressions on his mind, however extrava- 
gant, ludicrous, or wild ; and that, too, while he is in a perfectly 
wakeful state. I have found persons entirely and naturally in the 
electro-psychological state, who never could be mesmerized at all, 
nor in the least affected under repeated trials ; that no person is 
naturally in the mesmeric state, but thousands are naturally in 
the electro-psychological, and live and die in it. It is the science 
of the living mind, its silent and mysterious workings and ener- 
getic powers. It is a science that evolves the majestic movement 
of rolling worlds, the falling leaf, and claims the great law of the 
universe as its own." 

" Have you ever witnessed any of these wonderful phenomena 
of psychology as exhibited by modern science ? I have seen a 
number of men taken promiscuously from a large auditory of a 
refined city upon the public platform, and there, after a few ef- 
forts, put so completely under the control of the operator, as to 
feel, think, and act just as he willed, and that, too, while entirely 
awake, and otherwise, apparently, in their normal condition. He 
would make them believe a stick was a snake ; water was vinegar, 
coffee, or alcohol, and followed with its effects ; that a handker- 
chief placed in their arms was a baby, and they would caress it, 
and try to quiet it, — made to believe it crying, — in the most lu- 
dicrous manner, being mostly young men unused to such opera- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 1G5 

tions; that it was very cold, drawing their cloaks around them- 
selves ; or that it was very hot, throwing off their coats before a 
large public gaze, to which they seemed wholly oblivious. I saw 
this operator, after having about a dozen men, all strangers to 
him, and well-known citizens, under his control for several suc- 
cessive evenings, — for the more he practises upon them, the 
more perfect becomes his control, — take them all through a .trip 
to California and back as follows : First, they get aboard the ship ; 
then the vessel, out to sea, goes to pieces in a violent storm, and 
they betake themselves to the small life-boat, some getting in 
from out of the water ; and you must bear in mind that all these 
scenes are acted out to the life, and by those who never appeared 
before the public gaze until now, — climbing over the gunwales, 
into the boat ; their terrible condition after drifting for several 
days on mid-ocean without food or water; their agreement to 
draw lots who should die to furnish these necessities for the bal- 
ance. After straining their eyes so long around the cheerless 
horizon for help, they descry at last a sail in the distance ; they 
"wave their handkerchiefs, and even their garments, in their effort 
to catch the notice of the passing vessel ; but she passes without ob- 
serving them; now all hope has fled; they become frantic and 
furious; the scene is appalling; but see! another vessel heaves 
in sight ; she nears them, she sees them, she comes to them, she 
rescues them, she takes them on board and saves them. This 
whole scene, as you may imagine, was truly interesting. They 
arrive at San Francisco, at the gold mines ; they dig gold ; they 
return home, some with $ 2,000, some $ 5,000, some with $ 10,000 
in gold. Some intend to invest in Texas lands, some in mercan- 
tile business, one a telegraph line (being a telegraph operator him- 
self). 

They sell their gold to the operator and take his checks on the 
bank, indorsed by the names of good men, whom they individu- 
ally select from the community ; these checks are mere scraps of 
old newspaper, which they are made to believe valid checks ; it is 
past bank hours, they go to the bank and find it closed ; they w r ait 
until next day. During the evening and following morning, 
their friends, with the previously expressed permission of the op- 
erator, try to convince them that their checks are worthless scraps 
of paper, and laugh at their delusion, but with no success; they 
reply familiarly, ' You can't fool me, I know my indorser, and the 



166 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

check will be paid on presentation in the morning,' etc. Before 
bank opens, they are at the door waiting with impatience, a large 
crowd of citizens also witnessing with great interest the whole 
proceeding. At length the bank doors open ; they rush in and 
present their checks, the cashier takes them, looks at them and 
says they are not checks ; they insist that they are true checks, 
properly indorsed, etc. ; the cashier assures them they are worth- 
less scraps of old paper, and cannot be cashed; disappointed, they 
hurry to the hotel to find Mr. Operator, who had got their gold ; 
were told there that he was in the court-house, followed all the 
while by a large crowd ; in the court-house they find Mr. Opera- 
tor, who, expecting them in their wrath, had taken the precaution 
to have the police around him for his apparent protection ; they 
report to him the bank's refusal, and demand their gold back ; 
he tells them he has not got it ; they threaten his life if he does 
not refund it ; the sheriff has to pacify them by holding himself 
responsible for his safe custody; they employ lawyers for imme- 
diate suit, the court-house during the while crowded, and finally, 
amidst the greatest excitement, the operator dispels the illusion 
with which he had them invested, since the day before, and in 
the greatest mortification and disappointment they hide them-' 
selves, run away, scamper off with shame. Now if all this be 
true, and we have no right to question the truth of those men, 
nor to doubt what we saw and heard, though it has always seemed 
strange to me that the cashier could have convinced or rather 
turned them when their friends could not convince them ; but 
may be the operator willed them to be thus turned ; but then 
how did he, entirely out of sight, know the time to thus exert his 
will when the cashier refused ? In justice to my philosophy, 
however, I should state that, notwithstanding these natural sus- 
picions, the fact of this psychologic influence and control is 
undeniably established ; Dr. Dods, in his lectures invited by Henry 
Clary, Webster, and others, at the national capitol, having demon- 
strated this mystic agency to some of the finest intellects of 
the land, and upon any one who chose to submit to the test. In 
view of all this I say, what a wonderful principle of the human 
mind is here developed and exhibited! This operator would also 
make them assume instanter, the most grotesque attitudes with 
the rigidity of stone, often in imitation of antique statuary, and 
strong men called from the crowd could not bend them. Strange 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 167 

indeed, and new to history, that one man can thus influence and 
control others, through the intervening, all-pervading, mysterious 
medium of electricity or nerve aura. And numerous instances 
are known of persons in the clairvoyant condition who can see 
other persons, and read their minds when in rapport with each 
other, at the distance of many miles or hundreds of miles ; an- 
other phase of this wonderful principle, and illustration of this 
all-pervading and universal mental medium of electro-ether. Dr. 
Dods says, there is about one in twenty-five naturally in the psy- 
chological condition, and that all may be brought into it by 
repeated efforts, and by any one who will persevere. It all proves 
the universal existence of this mysterious, hitherto unknown 
agent, or element, or essence, by which and through which mind 
acts upon mind; in a word, it proves the universal medium of 
mind, and I ask you to remember this, when I come to explain 
the spiritual philosophy, for it is illustrative of the latter." — 
Bembert. 

Again, we would ask you if any greater miracles than these 
seeming ones have ever been recorded ? If so, we have not seen 
them. Aside from those we have already cited, showing the sim- 
ilarity to workings of spirit power at the present day, there is not 
one on record performed by Jesus or his apostles that would not 
come under the head of this electrical philosophy. And many 
from the Old Testament the same, as Aaron's rod changed, — bud- 
ded; the waters sweetened, — turned to blood; and numerous 
others. As for the sun going back, or the sun and moon standing 
still, we have no idea that any such remarkable phenomena ever 
occurred, except in the brain of unfortunate ignorance. We know 
not whether Jonah swallowed the whale, or whether the whale 
swallowed Jonah, but are inclined to doubt the whole transaction, 
except as a figurative form of speech, Jesus himself having said 
Jonah was a " sign unto the Ninevites," and at the same time and 
place rebuking the scribes and Pharisees as blind guides who 
" strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." 

" Rev. Mr. Mahon, ' the intellectual giant,' says, l Every reader 
will agree with us in the assumption that the incorruptible God 
has never performed, and never will perform a miracle in attesta- 
tion of that which is unreal or untrue. A religion really and 
truly attested by divine miracles must, therefore, be admitted to 
be true/ To which shallow subterfuge, Prof. Hare replies, ( To 



168 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

this very admissible truism, I add that an omnipotent and pres- 
cient God could not have any occasion to perform miracles in 
attestation of anything, since, by the premises, his will must be 
carried out without miracles. That anything should, even for an 
instant, be contrary to his will, is inconsistent with his foresight 
and omnipotency. It would be a miracle that anything counter 
to his will should exist.' 

The next postulate of Mr. Mahon, ' No religion attested as true 
by divine miracles can be false ! ' Was this proposition ever im- 
pugned ? No one Could resist the unquestionable dictates of 
God, however conveyed, whether by miracle or any other means. 
The question is not whether a religion attested by divine miracles 
should be accredited, but whether there were ever any miracles, 
attesting any religion, performed ; and, if so, what religion has 
the peculiar merit of having been thus attested ? 

Millions who believe in other religions deride those miracles of 
revelation which Mr. Mahon would adduce ; and Protestants do 
not admit many which the Romish Church sanctions. For one, I 
deny that any miracle has ever been performed, with the view of 
attesting any religion whatever. No miracle could be necessary 
to attest the will of omnipotence, any more than to enable a man 
to wave his hand. But admitting that it ever has been necessary, 
no miracle has ever been resorted to for the purpose in question, 
since none has answered the desired end. This would not have 
been the case, had miracles been resorted to by prescient omnipo- 
tence. There can be nothing supernatural or infranatural, — 
nothing beyond, above, below, or apart from his organic laws. 
They constitute the wisdom, the power, ay, the very God ; and to 
violate these would be to violate himself, which is impossible and 
simply absurd." 

We will now give some further testimony in regard to the Bible, 
its authority and teachings, as interpreted by us, with a view to 
impress upon the minds of our readers the importance of think- 
ing, reasoning, and judging for themselves individually, the reli- 
ability to be placed upon them as a whole. As for ourselves, 
while we believe, receive, hold fast, and admire its beautiful truths 
and blessed assurances of immortality, as brought to light by our 
Saviour's holy life and heavenly teachings, we candidly confess 
that this ancient book of inspired writings is, in our eyes, no 
more " sacred " than are scores of books containing inspired writ- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 169 

ings of the present age, and untainted with the low verbiage and 
sensuousness of the unprogressed early writers. 

" The word ' Bible ' is from the Greek liblos, originally soft-bark, 
which the ancients used to write upon, and means book. The 
term ' holy ' was prefixed by the Jews, to express excellence. 
Hence ' holy bible ' literally means, in the original, excellent soft- 
bark. The books comprising the Old Testament were written 
upon soft-bark, palm-leaves, impressible stones, etc. There were 
many more than are now preserved and acknowledged at the 
present day, as 'Wars of the Lord,' 'Book of Jasher,' 'Acts of 
Solomon/ ' Visions of Iddo the Seer,' etc. The manuscripts of 
the New Testament, with many more, were collected three hun- 
dred years after Christ. According to Mosheim, who is high, 
standard authority in the Church, 'Not long after Christ's as- 
cension into heaven, several histories of his life and doctrines, full 
of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were composed by persons 
whose intentions, perhaps, were not bad, but whose writings dis- 
covered the greatest superstition and ignorance. According to 
the Unitarian new version, there were in these manuscripts up- 
wards of 130,000 readings.' Such was the idolatrous adulation 
paid to the authority of Origen, who was the origin of the present 
fashion of preaching from a text, and whose superstition drove 
him to commit self -mutilation of such ruinous character as to re- 
sult in emasculation of mental vigor as well, that emendations of 
the text, which were but suggested by him, were taken in as a 
part of the New Testament, though he himself acknowledged they 
were supported by the authority of no manuscript whatever. 
Lanfranc, Archibishop of Canterbury, made many alterations for 
the avowed purpose of accommodating them to the faith of the 
orthodox. In the year 506, ' the illustrious Mersala, being con- 
sul by the command of the Emperor Anastasius, the holy gos- 
pels, as having been written by idiot evangelists, are censured 
and corrected.' According to Davis and other authors, 2,048 
bishops assembled at Nice in the year 325, under command of 
the Emperor Constantine. During their pious deliberations, they 
became so vociferous, obstreperous, and violent towards each 
other, that Constantine disqualified 1730 from having a vote in 
deciding which books were and which were not the word of God. 
The 318 left pronounced the books which subsequently composed 
the Bible to be the word of God. Since then, however, several 



170 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

books have been rejected, such as the ' Gospel of the Egyptians,' 
' Gospel of the Hebrews,' the ' Gospel of Perfection,' ' Gospel of 
Barnabas,' ' Epistle of Clemens Eomanns,' of ' Ignatius,' of ' Poly- 
carps,' etc., ' Shepherds of Hernias,' * Eevelation of Paul,' ' Acts 
of Peter,' ( Epistle of Christ,' etc. Out of fifty gospels then ex- 
tant, they only retained Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the 
balance, some well written, were committed to the flames ; while 
the books of James, Jade, and the Apocalypse were entirely re- 
jected. The Emperor then sanctioned their decision, and ordered 
the Bible, as then canonized, to be received as the word of God. 
After this, ecclesiastical councils were frequently called, and. as 
frequently annulled the decisions of each other, until the year 
633, at the council of Toledo, the rejected books of James, Jude, 
and Eevelation of St. John were incorporated into the several 
canons. 

There is a growing doubt and disbelief in the miraculous 
phase of the Bible religion, particularly among the intelligent and 
scientific. Indeed, the materialistic philosophy, to wit, that spirit 
is the result of material organism and perishes with it, is rapidly 
deracinating the old Christian faith. And where 's the wonder ? 
What truly scientific man can swallow whole — to use a common 
but expressive phrase — that mythic old book, with all its crudities, 
cruelties, and absurdities ? I don't mean the cardinal truths of 
man's immortality, the conditions of future reward and punish- 
ment, love, truth, peace, charity, spirit communion, etc., as in- 
culcated by Jesus, as founded in philosophy and approved by 
science : but all that vast mass of animal rubbish, historic false- 
hood, talmudic fable, and mythic superstition. Let me cite a few 
out of the mass of these fables, contradictions, absurdities, and 
bloody edicts ; it dates the creation 5,866 years ago : whereas we 
know, from geological facts, that this length of time would not 
fill up the smallest period in the successive epochs of creation. 
It says light was created the first day, and the sun on the fourth 
day. The Jews were represented to be a pastoral and predial peo- 
ple, the most fickle, unstable, and capricious, always seeking after 
strange gods : whereas all other history and our own observation 
make them just the reverse, a commercial people, the most stable, 
stubborn, tenacious, and pertinacious on earth: in fact, this is 
their predominating characteristic ; the old Bible defender can't 
controvert or clear away this inconsistency ; he can only say the 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 171 

Jewish character has changed ; but that will invalidate one of his 
main arguments in support of the Bible, for the Jews are appealed 
to as standing immobile monuments of its truth; but if they 
have been changed by the curse, the curse has proved a blessing, 
for it has riveted them to the one living God, instead of roving 
after their many idols, as in the days of Moses. In the first chap- 
ter of Genesis after He had finished the creation of the world and 
man, He pronounced them 'very good'; yet in the sixth chapter, 
He repented having made man : and St. James says, He ' is with- 
out variablensss or shadow of turning.' It pronounces a curse 
through all time upon the whole maternal portion of the whole 
human family, but science has negated this prophecy, and dis- 
armed the cruel curse of rending racking pains and throes, and 
every mother should thank Drs. Morton and Jackson for chloro- 
form. I was just about to predict, but as quickly remember, that 
the would-be prediction is already history, to wit, the use of this 
or any other anaesthetic agent for this special purpose will be de- 
nounced by the ignorant bigot as subverting God's law in this 
behalf, pronouncing a special curse on woman, inasmuch as she 
was the first who brought death into the world, and all our woe ; 
I have already heard this denunciation. 

The Christian Prof. Hitchcock says, ' The introduction of death 
into the world, and the specific character of that death described 
in Scripture as the consequence of sin, are the next points where 
geology touches the subject of religion ; here, too, the general in- 
terpretation of Scripture is at variance with the facts of geology, 
which distinctly testify to the occurrence of death among animals 
long before the existence of man; shall geology here also be per- 
mitted to modify our exposition of the Bible ? ' Again : ' It is now 
generally agreed that geology cannot detect traces of such a del- 
uge as the Scriptures describe,' etc. 

The old dispensation, which men yet worship as the inspiration 
of God, inculcates cruelty, murder, treachery, and all manner of 
the blackest turpitude known in the calandar of crime ; and all 
connived at, and even approved, under the direct sanction and 
even instruction of their God : instance the stoning to death by 
the Jews of their children for disobedience the massacre of the 
whole nation of the Midianites, with the reservation of the virgins, 
for violation by the bloody murderers of their kindred ; the out- 
rageous frauds and deceptions on the part of Jacob ; swindling 



172 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

the Egyptians, by borrowing their ornaments with the intention 
of stealing them. Saith Samuel the pope of Judaea, ' Now go and 
smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare 
them not ; but slay both man and woman, and infant and suck- 
ling/ etc., for a wrong done by their ancestors some hundred 
years before. God is truth, yet in 1st Kings xxii. he is repre- 
sented as employing a lying spirit to allure and lead Ahab through 
lies to his certain destruction ; thus proving by Bible authority, 
that there are lying spirits, which I have no doubt is true ; and 
that God sanctions lying, which I 've no doubt is not true. Com- 
pare the holy Moses as lawgiver and exemplar of morality, with 
the pagan Solon ; and the Christian Abraham with the ethnic 
Koman Virginius, especially in reference to their treatment of, 
and conception of the chastity and purity of their wives and 
daughters ; and yet Abraham is said to be the father of the faith- 
ful. David, the great king, and sweet singer in Israel, author of 
the Psalms, was an adulterer, a polygamist, and a murderer: 
though the high moral tone of some of his latest productions de- 
serves commendation, and indicate decided reformation. [Note 
if you please, throughout his writings, his constantly recurring 
prayer to God for vengeance, destruction, and all manner of evil, 
to be recompensed upon his enemies, with repeated avowals of the 
intense hatred he bore them.] Solomon, author of Ecclesiastes 
and Proverbs, was also an adulterer, sensualist, and polygamist, 
and his canonized song is a disgusting specimen of concupiscence, 
sensuality, and obscenity ; and even Mary Magdalene, according 
to some biblical critics, was not sans reproach ; but if such be the 
fact, I am satisfied she thoroughly repented and reformed, before, 
or when she became so devoted a disciple of the pure-minded and 
virtuous Jesus. 

Josephus speaks of prominent and patriotic Israelites, Corah. 
Zimri, and others, publicly denouncing Moses as a usurper, and 
ambitious despot. It is also said in the Bible, that God tempted 
Abraham ; St. James says, God tempts no man. It says Moses 
and the seventy elders saw God, who appeared also to Abimelech ; 
St. John and St. Paul both say, no man hath seen God. The 
old Bible commands that ' there shall not be found among them 
one who consulteth familiar spirits/ which has been quoted against 
spiritualism by its orthodox opponents, in direct contradiction to 
the injunction in Kings just cited. And St. Paul, St. John, et al. y 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 173 

of the New Testament, command us to ' desire spiritual gifts,' e try 
the spirits/ ' quench not the spirit/ that we ' shall see the angels 
ascend and descend ' ; that ' the gods come to us in the form of 
man/ etc. Solomon says, l men and beasts have one breath ' ; * as 
one dieth, so dieth the other, — all things come alike to all ; there 
is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked.' It also says, 
there is nothing new under the sun ; yet it says, the rainbow is a 
new creation, hung out as a sign that there shall be no more flood. 
It says, what has been, shall be again ; yet it also says, there shall 
never be another flood. Even Jesus is represented as saying, 
1 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you 
nay ; but rather division. I am not come to send peace, but a 
sword. For I come to set a man at variance against his father, 
daughter, son/ etc., which has proved literally and terribly too 
true. And then his utterances to the very contrary, which are 
truly worthy of inspiration. But who follows them ? Who takes 
no thought for the morrow, what he shall eat or wear ? Who, 
when asked for one, gives two ; when smitten on one cheek, turns 
the other ; loves his enemies ; never resents an injury; loves his 
neighbor as himself ; returns good for evil; and bears all indigni- 
ties and wrongs without resentment, but with meekness, forgive- 
ness, and charity? Not one. They, his followers, rely alone 
upon the unreliable myth of futile faith. And can it be for a 
moment believed, that a good and gracious God would poise an 
endless heaven and an endless hell, for his children, upon the mere 
fact or act of their faith ? 

Faith, and all her credulous children, have, for a long time, 
been preaching up a doctrine that there are two other countries 
with certain fruits, away off in the dim distance of hereafter. One 
of said places is on the other side of Jordan, through whose bois- 
terous waters, they say, we have to pass, in order to reach it ; the 
home of Abraham and Sarai. The other country, some say, is 
across the river Styx, the regions of Pluto and Proserpine. Both 
these places bear peculiar fruits. True, no one of them has ever 
seen these places, or tasted their fruits, but then, quoth they, it is 
all just so, because it is so. And of all their millions that have 
passed that way, not one has ever returned and reported. The 
said children of earth adopt certain manners; and they vary 
much in the manner of these manners, the main one of which 
is faith, faith, that is, to believe it all, and nothing else. And what 



174 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

do they believe ? They believe what the Church believes ; and 
what does the Church believe? It believes what they believe; 
and what do they and the Church together believe ? They both 
believe the same thing ! Some say, that in order to escape this 
terrible Styx, and reach the blessed banks that loom up on the 
other side of Jordan, you must take water (immersion) ; others, 
that you must go through rain (sprinkling) ; some, again, that 
you can't go at all by yourself, but must be perched on the back 
of a priest ; that he alone can put us through safe ; and still oth- 
ers, that your heart has to be radically changed by a special fiat 
of the reigning Jehovah, from his distant throne on the apex of 
the universe. There is also another class, who preach that some, 
and far the greater number, will land across Styx in utter dark- 
ness, in spite of faith or anything else ; that the Creator has so 
decreed it before the first block was laid for the temple of crea- 
tion ; and that a select few will be, by the same decree, safely 
landed across Jordan, in spite of will or wish, why or where- 
fore. 

In short, some preach universal salvation, but practise nothing 
to prove it ; while others preach almost as universal damnation, 
and prove their preaching by their practice. 

Now it came to pass, at this conjuncture, that Truth lent her 
light, and science was enabled to lead a straight track to this 
great unknown hereafter, and prove positively, by those laws and 
workings of nature's Creator, which she had already known, that 
it is not dim and distant, but bright and near at hand ; not mys- 
terious and inexplicable, but natural and philosophical; that it is 
not a myth, but a truth ; that there is no sulphurous Styx, nor 
lutarious Jordan, to ingulf forever the majority of mortals ; that 
there are not different and diverse roads, nor cold creeds, nor hot 
hells, nor formal faiths of human dogmas; but one natural, 
straight, clear, unchanging track, through which all earth's chil- 
dren easily pass into its portals ; and to crown it all, the ration- 
ale of the whole trip is explained and proven on the known prin- 
ciples of immutable philosophy. 

But if Jesus intended those pure precepts already enumerated 
to be practised by his followers alone, — and without extra pre- 
tension as a philologist, by every principle of hermeneutics, we 
are so to understand them, — what would be the result to them 
individually and collectively ? Immediate ruin manifestly to 



' THE UNSEALED BOOK. 175 

every one, and all of them. On the other hand, if he intended 
them for the whole human family, and they should be thus uni- 
versally practised, they then become in theory a splendid system 
of ethics, worthy of their illustrious author. 

Jesus also says to Peter, * Thou art the rock on which I build 
my church'; and after a few minutes again, ' Get thee behind 
me, Satan, thou art an offence to me/ The old Roman law, if I 
recollect rightly, required two witnesses to substantiate the alle- 
gations of a party ; Jesus, alluding to this, offers himself as one of 
the two witnesses to prove his own affirmations. Does this not 
indicate weakness, or at least human fallibility ? It frequently 
inculcates, and it is the general interpretation of both Jew and 
Christian, with some modern exceptions, that future punishment 
is everlasting, yet we find the contrary taught in Isa. lvii. 16 ; 
Rom. viii. 21 ; 1st Cor. xv. 22 ; Phil. ii. 9 ; Col. i. 20 ; 1st Tim. ii. 
1 ; Rev. xxi. And the Christ himself says, ' And I, if I be lifted 
up from the earth, will draw all men after me ' ; and the same 
Christ says in Matt, xxv., ' The wicked shall go into everlasting 
punishment, and the righteous into life eternal/ But in Jude the 
word ' everlasting ' is used to last only until the judgment, the 
great assize. John the Baptist proclaimed the Messiah immedi- 
ately on his advent ; yet when in prison, near the end of his career, 
he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus and ascertain if he was 
the Messiah. Jesus says, ' He that is not against us is for us/ and 
* he that is not with me is against me.' And again in Matthew x. 
6, Jesus commands his apostles to ' go not into the way of the 
Gentiles, nor the Samaritans/ etc. ; and in Matthew xxvii. 19, he 
tells them to ' go into all nations/ etc. How can the atrabiliary 
devotee of incarnated Deity, God, manifest in the flesh, as they 
call it, reconcile these flat contradictions ? How could Jesus be 
of the lineage of David, when Joseph, said to be of this line, is 
represented not to be his father, though the husband of his 
mother, who was also not of this house ? As a specimen of the 
loose and unreliable relations of the gospel writers, and their 
many discrepancies and incongruities, the locality of the denun- 
ciations against the Pharisees and Saducees is given in Galilee, 
when they would be appropriate alone to Jerusalem, as these sects 
flourished there instead of Galilee. And so on throughout this 
great chapter of biblical religion, which men venerate and worship 
as the direct inspiration and miraculous dictation of the great 



176 THE UNSEALED BOOK, 

God in person, as the infallible and immaculate oracles of our 
heavenly Father. In charity, however, if not justice, it is my 
duty to state, that many of those who pretend to preach and ex- 
pound this thaumaturgical book, have never read, much less 
studied it through entire; and a large majority of those who be- 
lieve and follow will confess that they have never read it through 
and of course never pretended to study it. This is in extenua- 
tion of their erring judgment, not of their presumption. 

Among the many theories invented to crush out this sublime 
science by which every man can learn and see for himself the pos- 
itive demonstration of his own immortality with all his loved, 
independent of hierophantic officiation, was first, that it was pro- 
duced — I mean the physical manifestations — by the snapping of 
the knee and toe joints. This was ridiculous. Then next came 
the theory that it was all produced by the brain centres and nerve 
centres of minds in the body. This was more philosophical; but 
they were both soon abandoned. Next arose the ' pine-table' 
epoch, originating in the Puritanical, fanatical, hypocritical, for 
they are all inseparable if not synonymous, ' New York Tribune ' 
and its kindred sheets; but the 'pine table' did more than was 
contracted for; it proved too much: it turned to talking. It 
was dropped as a child drops a hot iron, instanter, and without 
being told. The Rev. Mahon then entered the ring, but he was 
soon ruled out as doing the opposition mischief, for he acknowl- 
edged the facts, but failed to explain them. The learned Farra- 
day spoke from across the water, and pronounced it the ' involun- 
tary contraction and motion of the muscles of the medium' ; 
weak indeed for a savan, but his theory, too, soon expired. 
Anon appeared the great Bovee Dods, with his psychological 
theory, the 'front brain, back brain,' etc., — the only rational 
theory yet presented. Indeed it is through the principles of psy- 
chology that spirit intercourse is effected, the excarnated being 
one party and the incarnated the other, instead of both parties 
being incarnated ; and it requires discrimination to know when 
the manifestations are really from the excarnated spirits instead 
of being a mere reflection of, or reflected image or idea existing 
in some other mind present in the flesh. I now refer to the higher 
mental manifestations, not the physical. But Dods himself has 
surrendered his theory and embraced spiritual agency ; for he has 
witnessed a number of communications that precluded any and 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 177 

every other hypothesis, and established, in his opinion, excarnated 
spirit intercourse. 

It is remarkable how rapidly all these various theories in oppo- 
sition to spirit agency have disappeared; and how, soon as one 
theory was advanced, the manifestations immediately ceased in 
that way and assumed another form ; and so throughout, as fast 
as new theories were devised for their explanation, so fast they 
assumed new phases, as if to refute them. 

It is now styled, I believe, by its opposers, an inexplicable in- 
tellectual epidemic ; being inexplicable to them, it must be incred- 
ible to all. Now, to the followers of the Bible, of whatever name 
or creed, I will prove in few words, and by the Bible itself, that 
modern Spiritualism is true. The wise man of the Bible in Ec- 
clesiastes, the Preacher, says, i What has been is what shall be ; 
what has been done shall be done again.' But many and divers 
manifestations of angels, disembodied spirits of men, have been 
made to men in the flesh through all the ages according to Bible 
record ; therefore these manifestations must be made again, and 
modern Spiritualism is true or the Bible is false. This is conclu- 
sive, for it is evident the rule was intended as general for all time y 
and not restricted to the apostolic or any other age. Again, its 
disciples say I must take the Bible and believe it all as I find it,, 
and not believe a part only, else I am no believer of the Bible. I 
contend that I may be a believer, and yet reject those portions 
which are evidently false, as the dogmatic creeds. 

Now, I ask them if they believe Joshua really stopped the sun 
or the world ; they answer no. Hence, by their own rule, they 
are not Bible believers : but by my rule I am a believer in its car- 
dinal truths founded in philosophy. 

To my Christian friends of liberal hearts and open minds, I 
would say that the evidence in favor of this religion of philosophy 
is evidently more powerful and conclusive in character, kind, and 
amount than that in favor of the religion of faith. In character, 
because of its direct living witnesses of the most intelligent and 
estimable men, instead of deceased, hearsay, traditional testimony 
of ignorant men; in kind, because of the scientific facts, instead 
of the old mythic fables of miracles against known laws of nature ;. 
and in amount, because of the living millions among us and 
everywhere, all attesting of their personal knowledge of the res-. 
gestae to the same thing. You believe twelve men or twelve hun- 



178 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

dred men if you please, and ignorant men, too, eighteen hundred 
years ago, whose testimony is contrary to all our experience and 
to nature's eternal laws ; but you would disbelieve twelve thou- 
sand men now living, and enlightened men too, whose testimony 
is in accordance with known laws of nature, and well understood 
in modern science. You say those twelve apostles of the old 
religion had no motive to mislead, but only incurred obloquy by 
their course. Now I ask what motive have these twelve thousand 
living apostles of the new philosophy, and don't you heap equal 
obloquy and opprobrium upon them ? Answer this to your own 
conscience. Is this intelligence, or is it common honesty ? You 
thus strain at the gnat of philosophy, and swallow the camel of 
faith. Every principle of evidence and rule of judicial practice, 
Greenleaf to the contrary, notwithstanding, would, if strictly ap- 
plied, invalidate popular theology and establish spiritual philoso- 
phy. It is not the amount of human testimony we rely upon in 
favor of this philosophy, nor should you, my Christian friends, 
thus rely ; for we are both greatly overpowered by the heathen 
and Mohammedan in numbers, and fully equalled if not excelled 
in devotion ; it is the irrefragable demonstrative evidence, inde- 
pendent of human feelings, human fears, or human numbers, 
immutable and immaculate. The character of this evidence is a 
stranger to all other religions, and makes this the religion of phi- 
losophy." 

Says Eev. Charles Beecher, — a very different man from Henry 
Ward, — in his official report on the new spiritual revela- 
tions : — 

" Whenever odyllic conditions are right, spirits can no more be 
repressed from communicating, than water from jetting through 
the crevices of a dike. 

" Whatever physiological law accounts for odyllic phenomena 
in all ages will in the end inevitably carry itself through the Bi- 
ble. Its prophecies, ecstasies, visions, trances, theophanies, ange- 
lophanies, physiology, and anthropology are highly odyllic, and 
must be studied as such. As such it will be found to har- 
monize with the general principles of human experience in such 
matters in all ages. If a theory be adopted everywhere else but 
in the Bible, excluding spiritual intervention by odyllic channels 
in toto, and accounting for everything physically, then will the 
covers of the Bible prove but pasteboard barriers. Such a theory 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 179 

will sweep its way through the Bible and its authority ; its plen- 
ary inspirations will be annihilated." 

In the language of another : — 

" Is it likely that one who has seen doors open and shut, heavy 
substances move about, and a human body upborne and without 
mortal contrivance or effort, will believe less that Christ walked 
on the water ; that an angel rolled away a great stone from the 
sepulchre ; or that Peter was released from prison by a spirit ? 
Because one has seen lights and appearances of flame, caused as 
he verily believes by spirits, will he have less faith that the angel 
of God manifested himself to Moses in a burning bush, or that 
tongues of fire sat on the apostles at the great spiritual manifes- 
tation of Pentecost ? Shall one hear all manner of sounds, 
caused by spiritual agency, even to a thundering roar, which 
shakes the whole house, and therefore grow more sceptical about 
the thunders of Sinai, or the ' great noise as of a mighty rushing 
wind/ and shaking of the house where the apostles prayed ? 
Shall one be convinced that spirits actually write on paper, wood, 
and stone, with pencil, pen, etc., with their own visible hands, 
and therefore have less faith that a mighty angelic spirit inscribed 
the Decalogue on tables of stone, and reached them forth out of 
a thick cloud to Moses ? or grow more sceptical at the reality of 
the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast ? Will men 
who are sure they have conversed with the spirits of departed 
friends for hours, therefore doubt whether Moses and Elias con- 
versed with Jesus on the mount ? Anti-Bible scepticism does 
not thrive on such nourishment, neither does irreligion or im- 
morality gain strength by the moral and reformatory communica- 
tions made in connection with these manifestations." 

"But, quoth the fossiliferous remains of the ox-cart ages, New- 
ton, Washington, our fathers, all believed (we might here suggest 
that they now believe in spirit communion, and have given the 
world unmistakable evidence of the same), hence we, too, ought 
to believe and follow them, as they followed their fathers, back to 
Jacob, Isaac, and Noah. This proves too much, if it proves any- 
thing. We ought now to be wearing sandals instead of shoes, 
buskins instead of boots, fig-leaves and bear-skins instead of silk 
dresses and broadcloth; should live in rustic idyllic tents, instead 
of marble modish residences, to practise the primitive art of cas- 
trametation, instead of the elegant arts of palatial refinement; 



180 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

should cultivate the soil and carry on commerce with the ox, in- 
stead of steam, viewing this last scientific innovation as a Satanic 
device to subvert the providence of God ; should offer sacrifices 
of he-goats and bullocks, to appease the Deity, who might be 
wrathy with us; should say our prayers to priests and worship 
images of the Virgin Mary, who lived a mother and died a virgin ( ?). 
But we have deviated and departed from the path of our fathers 
in everything, even the most sacred symbols and religious rites : 
for instance, before those great iconoclastic innovators, Luther 
and Calvin, the bread and wine of the eucharist was viewed as the 
veritable body and blood of Christ ; now they are viewed by Prot- 
estants as merely typical, and the old, sacred transubstantiation 
is utterly rejected, just as all the old, sacred superstitions will ulti- 
mately be rejected by future Protestants, under the light of pro- 
gressive science. And if your old Revelation is from the omnis- 
cient God, as it professes and you believe, why should it, how can 
it, have the least inconsistency, to say nothing of contradiction 
and absurdity ? Evidently impossible. I tell you, my Christian 
friends, the Bible and Spiritualism must stand or fall together ; 
rather, Spiritualism may stand, can stand, will stand, indepen- 
dent of the Bible ; but the Bible cannot stand amid the bright 
blaze of modern science, without the support of Spiritualism." 

We will now discourse a little upon religious sects, doctrines, 
and creeds, quoting mostly from Rembert. 

' This principle we call ' religion' was originally and properly 
called philosophy, — literally, love of wisdom, now reason, ration- 
ale of phenomena, — at a time when it was thought to be a true 
philosophy; but after it was found to have no philosophy (ap- 
propriately if not intentionally), the word < religion ' was adopted, 
and certainly with great propriety, as far, at least, as the signifi- 
cance of the word. 

The ancient priests of Egypt, from whom letters and civiliza- 
tion have sprung, were men of philosophy, and entirely different 
from the order now designated as priests. The colleges of Thebes, 
Heliopolis, and Memphis were the headquarters of professional 
and scientific men, and have no sort of similitude, or even resem- 
blance to our modern ecclesiastical institutions. It was from 
these colleges the Greek schools derived their science. Pythago- 
ras had lived at Thebes, Plato at Heliopolis, and Thales and De- 
mocratus at Memphis. Thus we have given the prevailing opin- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 181 

ions and cherished hopes of mankind, in every variety, and with- 
out regard to chronological order, extending over a period of 5865 
years (including the Mosaic record), comprising billions of men, 
down to the present auspicious time. 

But to this general and popular sentiment of the human family, 
which we trace through all the ages, there are many and power- 
ful exceptions. Nationally the Huns, a numerous and warlike 
nation, who, under Attila and Alaric, overran Southern Europe, 
according to some historians, rejected all religions, possessing and 
professing none. Individually, Julius Caesar, as an orator and a 
writer, statesman and warrior, one of the most famous of man- 
kind, in a celebrated oration in the Eoman Senate, on the punish- 
ment of Lentulus and other Catalinian conspirators, advocated 
incarceration for life, on the ground that death is no punishment, 
but rather a cessation from toil and sorrow, as well as of joy. 
Napoleon Bonaparte, equally renowned in both civil and military 
annals, was so heartily disgusted with the simulations of the 
clergy, and the hypocrisy of all religions, that he believed none. 
On his narrow escape from the inflowing tide of the Red Sea, on 
the spot where Pharaoh perished, he exclaimed, ' If I had perished 
here like Pharaoh, what a text it would have furnished the preach- 
ers of all Christendom.' He never uttered a greater truth. It 
would have been seized upon and heralded from the pulpit as a 
grand providential specialty visited upon him for his manifold 
transgressions, and iniquities, and ungodliness, and special pre- 
sumptuousness, for getting himself out safe from the same sea 
whose enraged waters had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his heathen 
host, by the special mandate of the Almighty. I sometimes more 
than half agree with Napoleon and Caesar, to the extent, at least, 
that a large portion of the human family are not worthy of an- 
other and higher life, and, indeed, do not desire it. And Publi- 
us, Pausanias, Simonides, Hobbes, Hume, Gibbon, Bolingbroke, 
Lord Chatham, Byron, Burke, Voltaire, Paine, Franklin, Jef- 
ferson, and others of great intellect, were infidels, or sceptics, but 
whether on the divine origin or of the Talmud, or Taugum, or 
Bible, or Koran, or Veda, or Edda, or Sastra, or Geeta, or on the 
immortality of the soul, I do not know, not having studied, nor 
even read them. Indeed, I never read an infidel author in my 
life, my information on this subject being derived from religious 
and miscellaneous reading of late scientific works. And in the 



182 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

living age, I am. personally acquainted with at least one master 
mind, a distinguished gentleman who has studied both physical 
and psychical science, particularly as involved in medicine, chem- 
istry, and physiology, who has no idea and no hope of another life 
beyond the scenes of this fitful, fevered drama, regarding man as 
only a high order of animal, with the highest cerebral develop- 
ment. In the liberal laws of this enlightened commonwealth of 
Texas, — and there is more intelligence among the masses than 
in any other State, — a man's religion is not the test of eligibility 
to office, oath, or emolument ; and if it were, this gentleman would 
scorn concealment under the cloak of hypocrisy. He charges 
me with superstition. According to Webster and Worcester, su- 
perstition means false religion, weak credulity. I have shown 
that mankind in all ages, the most literate and illiterate, have be- 
lieved in a future life and spiritual or angelic intercourse of ex- 
carnated with incarnated men, amounting to an almost universal 
instinct. Now, this belief must be founded in actual fact, or the 
result of instinct. If the former, the fact is established ; if the 
latter, we must believe it will be realized hereafter as a glorious 
truth, for all instincts of all animals are gratified, or have the 
means of gratification. Thus man's superstition furnishes an ar- 
gument for future life. With the sceptic it is at least consistent 
to entertain these views of Spiritualism and all the religious isms ; 
but with the religionists of any class to reject Spiritualism or 
super-mundane manifestations of excarnated man in the form of 
angels, when all their religions and Bibles are predicated upon 
this principle, and the Christian pre-eminently so, as it contains 
nearly two hundred such passages or references, it proves them, 
to use the mildest term, to be either ignorant or insincere. It 
may be urged that my peculiar temperament or constitution of 
mind causes my incredulity of the fashionable orthodoxy. If so, 
I may reply that the constitution of the believer's mind is the 
cause of his credulity. Again, it may be said, my mental pecul- 
iarity is the cause of my admiring and embracing the spiritual 
philosophy, to which I might retort, the mental peculiarity of 
others prevents them from appreciating and embracing this phi- 
losophy ; that they and mankind generally are so constituted or 
educated as to turn from new lights, and reject improvements 
as innovations, — creatures of education, who cannot sunder the 
shackles of early instillations. There are few, indeed, who can do 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 183 

this. Around men's hearts is a mail of prejudice and partiality, 
of religion and bigotry, that grows with their growth, which is as 
impervious to light as, and which they are generally no more able 
to break than, the tortoise can break its shell. 

Viewing this phase of human nature, how can we wonder at the 
discordant and contradictory revelations or statements from spir- 
its, who have perhaps just entered the spheres, and have made 
little progress in wisdom, love, and truth ? This alone is enough 
to explain all our discrepancies ; and the fallibility of the com- 
municator, the imperfection of the media, and the liability to 
other impressions pre-existing of the recipient, fully explicate all 
mysterious discordances ; and this is philosophy. But you reject 
fact, explanation, philosophy, everything but faith. Faith, my 
friends, cannot bring bread for the body, nor salvation for the soul. 
The word ' faith,' however, has no well-defined meaning: accord- 
ing to its common acceptation by strict orthodoxy, it is a mere 
myth of superstition and ignorance : but if it means intense en- 
ergy and inexorable resolution, with unswerving confidence in 
them, it then becomes at once a truth and a philosophy. The 
answer of the Baptist preacher to the question, 'Are you not 
afraid your proselytes will take cold, immersing them in mid- 
winter ? ' ' No danger of their catching cold if they 've got faith 
enough ' ; has a truth which he knew and a philosophy which he 
knew not. It is well known to scientific physicians, that this is a 
potent principle in the human mind, to keep off and cure disease. 
This determined will can take a man unscathed through a pes- 
tilence. There is no more truthful and philosophical saying than 
' where there 's a will there 's a way.' By nature's grand laws, 
everything accomplishes its purpose, and this positive, well-defined, 
intelligent, earnest, aspiring, devout will will accomplish its pur- 
pose. It is well said by Emerson, ' The will, that is the man.' -So 
much and no more of faith and will. 

As for the story of the miraculous cross appearing in the heav- 
ens over Constantine's head, as a sign by which he was to conquer, 
it was manufactured, I opine, specially for Constantine and his 
favorites, and probably by the very priest who undertook to pro- 
cure pardon and special condonation for his crimes ; Constantine 
himself, it is said, became a convert to Christianity because a Pa- 
gan refused to absolve him from the guilt of murdering his own 
son (I think), declaring it impossible to procure expiation for so 



184 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

heinous a crime : but a Christian priest readily agreed to do it for 
him with certainty, celerity, and facility. 

This expiation, however, may not be so incredible, if we believe 
the able and eminent divine, Dr. Olin, who said, ' There was virtue 
enough in the blood of Christ to cleanse the foulest spot in hell.' 
Did the good doctor bethink himself how well he was vindicating 
the Universalists ? or as the Methodists, among whom Olin was 
a high and honored dignitary, delight to call ' hell redemption- 
ists ' ! And yet, per contra, another prelate with whom he affilia- 
ted declared the ' doctrine of universal salvation was repulsive to 
his moral feelings.' Gracious God ! what a moral feeling for 
even the breast of a believer, ay, for the lowest order of brute ! 

In euphemistic (?) parlance, ' plain as preaching' now means, 
clear as mud; and 'true as gospel,' the burlesque on veracity. 
Hence the rapid growth of modern scepticism and materialism. 
If I speak fearlessly and severely, I speak honestly and truly. 

The Catholic Church acknowledges the verity of spirit commu- 
nications, but ascribes them to the Devil or diabolical agency. 
(The Lord send us more of these devils, with their pure percep- 
tions and lights of immortality!) E contrario, the Abbot Al- 
mignana, Doctor of the Canon Law, etc., writes : ' Having 
witnessed some extraordinary phenomena, and desiring to assure 
myself as to the presence of a diabolical agency in these manifes- 
tations, as I had been persuaded to believe, profiting by the oppor- 
tunity offered by some mediums magnetized by others and not by 
myself, I was induced to pray, to invoke the sacred names of God 
and Jesus, to make the sign of the cross on the subjects, and went 
so far as to sprinkle them with holy water, with the design of 
driving out the Devil should he have taken possession of them.' 
[You must remember, according to the Catholic ritual, sublata 
causa tollitur effectus, remove the cause and the effect ceases ; the 
names of Jesus, holy water, etc., will drive off the evil one.] 
* However, as not one of these mediums lost in my presence the 
smallest part of their power, I was led to infer that the Devil had 
nothing to do with the phenomena.' In another instance he 
says, ' The medium, instead of repelling the cross, as he expected, 
seized it, and, smiling, pressed it to his lips in the most affection- 
ate manner,' etc. Again, the eloquent prelate, Lacordaire, pro- 
claims from the pulpit in the church of Notre Dame, of Paris, 
that ' this phenomenon belonged to the order of prophecy, and 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 185 

that it was a provision of the divinity to humble the pride of 
materialism.' 

Thus you see the enlightened and honest of the preachers and 
priests investigate and attest the truth of these new scientific rev- 
elations. But to the captious, cavilous clergy, of whatever creed, 
one clinching, comprehensive question : Do the facts and philoso- 
phy claimed for Spiritualism tend to confirm and substantiate the 
similar facts and revelations of Brahma in the Eig Vedas, Buddha 
in the Bedagat, Zoroaster in the Zend-Avesta, of Isaiah in the 
Hebrew Talmud, of Mahomet in the Koran, of John in the New 
Testament, and all the past revelations of excarnated to incar- 
nated man, attesting human immortality ? Or do they tend to 
render them all incredible and impossible ? Plead to the issue 
and give a sensible, honest answer, if you can. And while, in 
the plenitude of your piety, you roll up the whites of your eyes in 
holy horror of my ( blasphemy' for not believing Christ to be the 
God of creation, and for my honesty and independence in avow- 
ing it, I warn you to take care that you do not commit the ' unpar- 
donable sin ' in denying the holy spiritual agency of my philosophy, 
and which Christ claimed and proclaimed. This is sacred soil, 
hallowed ground : tread lightly, softly." 

We will now devote a little space to the recital of dreams, vis- 
ions, premonitions, etc., showing that they are not confined to 
scriptural writings, but have been given to mortals in all times 
and ages, yea, are still given. 

Pilate's wife had a premonition in respect to Christ's crucifix- 
ion, and warned him to beware, which he in some measure re- 
garded, to the extent at least of "washing his hands of the affair," 
in his own words. 

Dr. Franklin informed Cabanis, that he frequently had "un- 
folded to him in his dreams the bearings and issues of political 
events which had puzzled him when awake." Condorcet had 
presented to him in his visions the conclusions of the most ab- 
struse calculations, which he could not arrive at when awake. 
Lord Bacon, in France, was warned in a dream of his father's 
death in England, which proved true to the moment. A distin- 
guished lawyer of Edinburgh, "'who had been consulted in a diffi- 
cult case of great importance, and had been studying it with 
intense anxiety and attention, was observed by his wife, after 



186 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

several days had been occupied in this manner, to rise from his 
bed in the night and go to a writing-desk which stood in the bed- 
room. He then sat down and wrote a long paper, which he put 
carefully by in the desk, and returned to bed. The following 
morning he told his wife that he had a most interesting dream ; 
that he had dreamed of delivering a clear and luminous opinion 
respecting a case which had exceedingly perplexed him : and that 
he would give anything to recover the train of thought which 
had passed before him in his dream. She then directed him to 
the writing-desk, where he found the opinion clearly and fully 
written out, and which was afterwards found to be perfectly cor- 
rect." 

Josephus records : " Galphira, the daughter of King Archelaus, 
after the death of her first two husbands (being married to a 
third, who was a brother of her first husband), had a very odd 
kind of a dream. She fancied that she saw her first husband 
come toward her, and that she embraced him with great tender- 
ness ; when in the midst of the great pleasure which she expressed 
at the sight of him, he reproached her after the following man- 
ner : ( Galphira, thou hast made good the old saying, that women 
are not to be trusted. Was not I the husband of thy virginity ? 
Have I not children by thee ? How could thou so far forget our 
loves as to enter into other marriages, nay, to marry my own 
brother? However, for the sake of our past loves, I will free thee 
from thy present reproach and make thee mine forever ! ' Gal- 
phira told this dream to several women of her acquaintance, and 
died soon after." 

Abercrombie, after giving many instances of dreams, visions, 
etc., from Sir Walter Scott, and other contemporaneous literati, 
the most of which he explains very plausibly on principles of phi- 
losophy, records the following, which he acknowledges cannot be 
explained, and the truth of which he vouches for : . — 

" Two ladies, sisters, had been for several days in attendance 
upon their brother, who was ill of a common sore throat, severe 
and protracted, but not considered as attended with danger. At 
the same time one of them had borrowed a watch from a female 
friend, in consequence of her own being under repair. This 
watch was one to which particular value was attached, on account 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 187 

of some family associations, and some anxiety was expressed that 
it might not meet with any injury. The sisters were sleeping 
together in a room communicating with that of their brother, 
when the elder of them awoke in a si>ate of great agitation, and 
having roused the other, told her she had had a frightful dream. 
' I dreamed/ said she, ' that Mary's watch stopped ; and that when 
I told you of the circumstance, you replied, Much worse than that 

has happened, for 's breath has stopped also,' — naming their 

brother who was ill. To quiet her agitation, the younger sister 
immediately got up, and found the brother sleeping quietly, and 
the watch, which had been carefully put by in a drawer, going 
correctly. The following night the very same dream occurred, 
followed by similar agitation, which was again composed in the 
same manner ; the brother being again found in a quiet sleep, and 
the watch going well. On the following morning, soon after the 
family had breakfasted, one of the sisters was sitting by her 
brother, while the other was writing a note in the adjoining 
room. When her note was ready for being sealed, she was pro- 
ceeding to take out for this purpose the watch alluded to, which 
had been put by in her writing-desk, she was astonished to find 
it stopped. At the same instant she heard a scream of intense 
distress from her sister in the other room. Their brother, who 
had still been considered as going on favorably, had been seized 
with a sudden fit of suffocation, and had just breathed his 
last." 

" Cornelius Agrippa," says D'Israeli, " before he wrote his 
' Varieties of the Arts and Sciences,' intended to reduce into a 
system and method the secret of communication with spirits and 
demons. On good authority, that of Porphyrins, Plessus, Plon- 
tinus, Jamblichus, and better were it necessary to allege it, he was 
well assured that the upper regions of the air swarmed with what 
the Greeks called demons, just as our lower atmosphere is full of 
birds, and waters of fish, and our earth of insects." 

" Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, who lived above suspicion, had a 
premonition of Caesar's fate, and exerted herself to dissuade him 
from going to the Senate that fatal day. He attended, however, 
and on being attacked fought courageously all the conspirators 
until he saw the blade of his friend Brutus glitter against him, 



188 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

when his proud heart failed, and covering his face in his mantle, 
with the exclamation, ' And thou, too, Brutus ! ' the bloody des- 
pot yielded his body a victim to foul conspiracy, and fell at the 
feet of Pompey's statue. But after this, it is recorded by Plu- 
tarch, his spirit appeared twice to Brutus, and spoke to him, 
promising to 'meet him at Philippi, sword in hand.' And sure 
enough, Brutus there expiated his crime on his own sword." 

"Lord Byron was ' superstitious'; he believed in the ill luck 
of Friday, and was seriously disconcerted if anything was to be 
done on that frightful day of the week. Yet he sometimes 
laughed at the idea of ghosts. Not long after the death of Lord 
Byron, Sir Walter Scott was engaged in his study, during the 
darkening twilight of an autumnal evening, in reading a sketch 
of Byron's form and habits, his manners and opinions. On a 
sudden he saw, as he laid down his book and passed into his hall, 
the eidolon of his departed friend before him." 

" Lord Chad worth was an infidel and unbeliever in immortal- 
ity. One morning at breakfast he exclaimed, 'I had a strange 

visitor last night : my old friend B came to me.' ' How,' 

asked his niece, ' did he come after I retired ? ' ' His spirit did/ 
said Lord Chadworth, solemnly. ' 0, my dear uncle, how could 
the spirit of a living man appear ? ' said the niece, smiling. ' He 
is dead beyond doubt,' replied his lordship. " Listen, and then 
laugh as much as you please. I had not entered my bedroom 
many minutes when he stood before me. Like you, I could not 
believe but that I was looking on the living man, and so accosted 
him ; but he, the spirit, answered, Chadworth, I died this night 
at eight o'clock. I came to tell you there is another world beyond 
the grave ; there is a righteous God that judgeth all.' * Depend 
upon it, uncle, it was only a dream.' But while Miss Wright was 
yet speaking, a groom on horseback rode up the avenue, and im- 
mediately delivered a letter to Lord Chadworth announcing the 
sudden death of his friend. The effect on the mind of Lord Chad- 
worth was as happy as it was permanent ; all his doubts were at 
once and forever removed." 

"Cardinal Wolsey,.and Fletcher the Divine, had presentiments 
of their death. Lord Lyttleton, famous in law, was approached 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 189 

by the deceased mother of a young lady whom he had injured, 
and who tauntingly told him the very day and hour of his death, 
which literally occurred. And he, in turn, appeared immediately 
after his death to his friend Andrews." 



" Jeanne Dare, commonly called Joan of Arc, at thirteen years 
of age, had visions, and was informed of her mission for the deliv- 
erance of France, which was fully and literally accomplished, 
according to the spiritual presages of her early life ; and when 
she appeared at the head of the troops, her beautiful hair hanging 
in ringlets oyer her shoulders and streaming in the wind, her eyes 
flashing the radiance of a high inspiration, and her face beaming 
with the benignity of her heavenly mission, she seemed an incar- 
nated angel on earth, and popular enthusiasm knew no bounds. 
Subsequently she was tried and condemned on the charge of sor- 
cery, by the ecclesiastical party under the bishop of Beauvais. 
Bound in iron chains and condemned to death, this fair girl and 
heavenly heroine baffled the crowd of subtle theologians, who had 
constituted themselves the cruel inquisition with prepared ques- 
tions to entrap her. She declared her mission was from God, 
communicated by celestial agents, who appeared richly clothed, 
and always accompanied with a brilliant light. To the question 
how they could speak, being pure spirits without members, she 
answered she knew not ; she only knew their voices were sweet, 
their language beautiful, and their counsel holy. It was again 
objected that they were appearances without reality. ' Whether 
they be apparent or real, I have proved them, and I would rather 
lose my head than deny their being.' After fulfilling all her pre- 
ternatural inspirations and aspirations, from her thirteenth year 
of age, this virgin martyr of French liberty and angelic develop- 
ment of heavenly truth was in her twenty-first year burnt alive 
by the Church/' 



"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth, both day and 
night, when we sleep and when we wake," said Milton. The 
pious Thomas Peyton, commemorating the translation of Enoch, 
in his " Glasse of Time," published in 1620, thus discours- 
ed:— 



190 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

" The angels bright, and all the powers divine, 
Winged with fame to mount the highest heavens, 
Descending sweetly on the lonely breast," etc. 

" Imagination, that strongest, most imperious of our faculties, 
whose soarings from earth to heaven may be reckoned among the 
indications of power beyond the grave, delights in the bold, the 
commanding, the superb ; what are these but the infant attributes 
of the disembodied spirits, the imperfect developments of a state 
of being, to which time and space are nothing, when man, shak- 
ing off the covering of the grave, shall be clothed with the might 
of angels, the splendid denizen of infinitude and eternity " ? wrote 
the eloquent George Croly. 

Says Addison : " At tlie same time, I think a person who is terri- 
fied by the imagination of ghosts and spectres, much more reason- 
able than one who, contrary to the report of all historians, sacred 
and profane, ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all 
nations, thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. 
Could I not give myself up to the testimony of mankind, I should 
to the relations of particular persons who are now living, and 
whom I cannot distrust in other matters of fact. I may here add, 
that not only the historians, to whom we may join the poets, but 
likewise the philosophers of antiquity, have favored this opinion." 

Johnson writes : " That the dead are no more seen," said Imiac, 
" I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and un- 
varied testimony of all ages, and all nations. There is no people, 
rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not be- 
lieved. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human 
nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth ; those 
who never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale 
which nothing but experience can make credible; that it is 
doubted by simple cavilers, can very little weaken the general 
evidence : and some who deny it by their tongues, confess it by 
their fears." 

We will here insert a piece compiled by us some little time ago, 
entitled " Spirit Communings," after which we shall give some 
explanations regarding the philosophy of spiritual intercourse, as 
understood by some of our most able, enlightened, and scientific 
minds. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 191 

"For 'tis better that souls should upward tend, 

And strive for the victor's crown, 
Than to ask the angels their help to lend, 

And come to man's weakness down." 

My dear friends, I know not how to begin, 
Or how this subject to place in order 
To make it seem unto you plain, as it 
So much doth embrace. I firstly would say : 
In coming back here our mission should be, 
To give to you who dwell upon this earthly 
Sphere such truths as you can receive and feel 
That they come from a higher source and are 
Intended to raise your aspirations 
To a nobler course of life, also to 
Enforce alike on your minds a view of 
The future condition which doth every 
Soul or spirit await when they pass river 
Jordan. Our time we do freely, willingly 
Give to those who do appreciate the gift, 
Whose hearts are ready to receive a sure 
Proof of our advanced state ; not that we claim 
A reward of merit, or feel that we 
Are better than they. We all more or less 
Inherit some sweet mixed with the bitter, 
Much bitter with the sweet. If we were no 
Wiser than when we came to our spirit 
Home above, — a century and more agone, — 
Our aim would be ourselves to improve, ere 
We came back to earth ; unless perchance to 
Give our friends a token of kind remembrance, 
Which same might enhance their joy ; for 
Our recognition of dear ones below 
Satisfaction gives to them, we know : and 
This is why undeveloped spirits often 
Strive to prove their own indentity, and 
Demonstrate unto their friends the fact that 



192 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Disembodied spirits possess the power 

To come back and graciously enact a 

"Brother's part." Some inherit a great degree 

Of spiritual force or mediumistic 

Power, and by it are enabled to at 

Once or immediately after dissolution 

Strong proof or evidence give of their ability 

To return at will to the friends and scenes 

Of earth. There 's one thing more which is requisite 

Still for their aid : it is, forsooth, the chords 

Of affection tender and true, which bind 

Them to their dear ones below ; attraction 

Alone can sympathy draw from those gone 

Before. Your tones should then be gentle and 

Kind, to secure the same in return from 

Them. If they have but just reached the farther 

Shore, they have not, of course, become much changed 

In their manners or mode of life ; as the 

Law of progression holds good in all spheres. 

'T is by toil through strife we perform our life 

Mission, and rise by degrees to a higher 

State of being ; our condition, there as 

Here or anywhere, depends not on fate, 

But on our own exertion ; nor does it 

Depend — as some have been tanght and do now 

Falsely believe — on the blood of the Saviour : 

That is naught, unless, like him, you do live, 

At least, so far as you may be able. 

His death, notwithstanding, was essential 

In carrying out the plan so noble. 

Kendering good for evil has never 

Been truly accomplished on earth by other 

Than he ; never have we, before or since 

The Saviour's birth, had occasion to render 

Such heartfelt praise to the all-wise Giver 

As then ; for his life hath taught and teaches 

Still, if we live ever near to our God, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 193 

As we ought, no powers of earth, of heaven, or 
Hell, can harm our spirits pure. Pain and death 
Your bodies may endure : there have been in 
All ages martyrs among the advocates 
Of God's truth. 

As I have before said, your 
Friends may possess the requisite power to 
Draw very near, and also your mind and 
Heart to impress, if they saw it would be 
To you a satisfaction ; if they, on 
The contrary, were led to suppose their 
Kecognition of you would bring inharmony, 
Or would enfeeble the cause so noble, 
On account of your unbelief, they surely 
Would not, if ever so able, render 
To you, or to a chief (if wise) , one single 
Iota of the truth divine so sacred 
And pure to them. It would be like casting 
"Pearls before swine," and would this truth condemn. 
I have also said, attraction alone 
Can sympathy draw ; 'tis true, and for this 
Eeason it dependeth on you, solely, 
Whether or not spirits come at your call. 
If your lips say yes, while no says your heart, 
'T were better by far that you had kept still ; 
Your lips and your heart must surely agree, 
Else you will no satisfaction receive. 
Your spirit must harmonize with that of 
Your friend, or he cannot you give truthful 
Statements or replies ; not such, I mean, as 
You from your standpoint will acknowledge 
True. There must be, on your part, a pure intent* 
An earnest desire to know " if these things 
Be true " ; there must also be a mutual 
Attachment : unanimity of thought 
And feeling between you will further the 
Advancement of both. These, friends, are the true 



194 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Conditions required by advanced spirits 

To hold sweet communion with embodied 

Ones, and give to each the merits of which 

They are deserving, be they few or be 

They many. And here we take the liberty 

To say : a soul which doth thus inquire shall 

Want no good thing. It shall be satisfied. 

Trusting in the Lord always ; and " He shall 

Give his angels charge over thee, to keep 

Thee in all thy ways." "Thine age shall be dearer 

Than the noonday : thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt 

Be as the morning." Friends beloved, turn 

Not away ; these teachings are pure and true. 

Ask ye, " What knowest thou that we know not ? " 

Lo, mine eye hath seen all this ; mine ear hath 

Heard and understood it ; yea, much more than 

This : for, " in thoughts from the visions of the 

Night, when deep sleep falleth on man, a spirit 

Passed before my face " ; my sight failed not ; mine 

Eyes did discern the face and form of one 

In earth life dear, and lo, a voice sweetly 

Said, " Even the night shall be light about 

Thee ; it is I, be not afraid." I said, 

" Is there any secret thing with thee, aught 

Which I for thee can do ? Such knowledge is 

Too wonderful for me." The angel voice 

Did reply, "I will show thee, hear me ; and 

That which I have seen I will declare." No 

Sound disturbed the silence then, as 

He, in tones so sweet, low, and clear, gave me 

To know the beauties of his home. He said 

That here we only could have a faint conception 

Of the same, or of the joy so heavenly, 

Which did await the pure in heart. Could we 

But realize in earth life as there, how 

Much of joy we oft forego by failing 

To avoid strife, we should at once seek peace 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 195 

And ensue it, endeavor to follow 

Him who discovereth deep things out of 

The darkness, and giveth light unto them 

That sit in darkness. The blind shall there see. 

Methinks I hear some loved ones say, " Show us 

The way." Ask the fowls of the air, and they 

Shall tell thee ; or speak to the earth, and it 

Shall teach thee. By the earth we mean the people 

Who do inhabit the same. Speak thou to 

Them and ask the most noble if so it 

Hath been with theirs and them ; if they have not 

Found that where was deceit on the part of 

Their neighbor, no communion between them 

Was complete, however much they might labor 

And strive to do well their part ; unity 

Alone could produce true effects. There exists 

The same rule of equity in the chain 

Which connects spirits disembodied with 

Those of earth. If the magnet be strongest 

Which attracts them below, they will, forsooth, 

Hover near to their dearest ; and if their 

Dearest are higher than they in spiritual 

Knowledge, the earth ones will be the teachers 

Most true. As a man in his dotage oft 

Seems to know less than when in his prime, just 

So will he enter the heavenly sphere. We 

Were born to this life precisely the same 

As are your little ones there, although cause 

And effect we can more plainly discern ; 

The earth child is by nature (as you term 

It, my views differ therefrom) endowed with 

Its peculiar attributes ; its being 

Possesses at birth the seed which shall germinate 

And shall accordingly bring forth fruit after 

Its kind. Excuse me, friends, if I here do 

Suggest some thoughts concerning this " seed." There 

Doubtless are those whose minds are impressed 



196 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Correctly. Of late, indeed, the subject 

Has been discussed most freely, and many 

Have written thereon. It is not my purpose 

To here fully demonstrate this truth ; as 

Understood by us who have watched for a 

Century of years the " sowing time and 

Harvest." If we should so tell as the same 

Appears unto us in full earnest, there 

Would be many who in like earnest would 

Say, " Ye are forgers of lies " ; we therefore 

Deem it best and wisest you to instruct 

By degrees. So now we will ask what ye 

Yourselves understand regarding your offspring : 

Who is the sower, and who wields the power ? 

We can you evidence bring that on the 

Side paternal the sower doth stand, and 

What of the power? It hath stood side by side 

With the sower ; does now in grades lower — 

We had almost said than the brute degree. 

Does this, then, demoralize man? Yea, "ask 

Now the beasts and they shall tell thee" What beast 

Is higher than woman? Or " speak to the 

Earth and it shall teach thee." Is the soil 

Ever ready in summer and winter the same, 

Think ye ? Requires it no industry to 

Culture, enrich, and for use prepare? Allow 

Ye no time for these ? If not, ye do greatly 

Err. E'en the best of soil, my friends, could not 

Produce good grains or fruits rare, with no 

Time for culture between harvest and seed 

Time. Again, the soil may be well prepared, 

But alas ! the seed is bad, the crop a 

Failure, though no pains were spared to render 

Its culture good. It dependeth not alone 

On the seed, nor yet alone on the soil ; 

The soil and the seed must alike be good : 

Your labor then is not vain. O, heed our 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 197 

Advice, that your " sons may be as plants grown 
Up in their youth " ; and your daughters as 
" Corner-stones," — a blessing to thee on earth, 
A twofold blessing in the higher spheres 
Of immortal love. " The fathers have eaten 
Sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on 
Edge. As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall 
Not have occasion any more to use 
This proverb." O, hasten the time when fathers, 
Mothers all, true wisdom may learn, and these 
Lessons sublime teach their children as well. 
"My tongue is the pen of a ready writer." 
O, may its precepts all be pure and true ! 
"My heart is inditing of a good matter." 
I would I might make it more plain to you. 

I would now speak of a class I have before 

Casually mentioned, — the undeveloped 

Ones. When these go hence, if it be ignorantly 

" Concerning these things," they have much to learn 

Before they can perfectly with their friends 

Below know how to commune ; they therefore 

Watch anxiously for opportunities 

To learn, for ways and means by which to 

Demonstrate a proof of their existence. 

When an opportunity doth present 

They wait not for assistance, but just rush 

" Pell-mell " to the very front in a state 

Of confusion. There are some things they know, 

Most things they don't. A sort of inspiration, 

Itself undeveloped, doth lead them on ; 

They know not where to begin or what to 

Say ; perhaps the very one they first address 

Thinks 't is sin spirit manifestations 

To witness, because he believeth not 

That they shall return out of darkness, and 

For him no light shineth. Spiritual 



198 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Power comes alone from the Devil (so his 

Kind parents have taught) , and if he 's not shunned, 

" Beware of the evil, your soul will be 

Killed outright." The spirit embodied is, 

Like the other, undeveloped, as* you 

See ; beside all this, he 's not a brother ; 

They scarcely each other know : there is no 

Harmony the two betwixt, mind to mind 

Stranger. What wonder, then, things get muddled 

And mixed : by the laws of nature they could 

Not do otherwise ; for indeed it is hard 

With conditions the very best to at 

First succeed. There are many obstructions 

With which mortals and spirits must contend, 

And learn by experience how best to 

Use means to further the end which they see 

In the distance, or think they see, for the 

End is not yet. Your wisest and your best 

Below have not thoroughly learned their alphabet 

Yet, therefore their progress is slow. 

M He shall 
Be driven from light into darkness and 
Chased out of the world." Countless numbers 
There are who do possess strong powers, which they 
Might unfold for their advancement, the glory 
Of God, the good of their fellow-men ; they 
Do no such thing, but trifle instead with 
The precious gift God-given. They love not 
The truth, but choose, rather, lies. As "like attracts 
Like," what is the result ? " Let not him that 
Is deceived trust in vanity ; for vanity 
Shall be his recompense." When such as these 
Do hold forth, the righteous and upright think 
It all pretence, condemn the beautiful 
Truth of spirit communion, when all that's 
Wrong is the trifling instrument; the truth 
Remains the same. O Lord, " how long shall the 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 199 

Ungodly triumph ? " It may truly be 

Said, The last state of that man is worse than 

The first ; Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and 

Not I ; Receive ye the Holy Ghost, — that 

Is, the spirit of truth, — and turn ye from 

The error of your ways, that ye may become 

Living examples of truth. 

" Should he reason 
With unprofitable talk ? " We now will 
Bring before you still another class : upright 
In their walk and in all their dealings true ; 
Their hearts open to conviction, willing 
To be convinced of the truth, had they sufficient 
Proof; the indwelling of the spirit from 
Their youth has oft made them to feel — well, a 
Something for which they could not account ; their 
Faith is strong in the Supreme Being, they 
Have studied a vast amount. There must, they 
Say, be some supernatural agency, 
But it is a mystery which they cannot 
Solve ; no effectual means have they found 
To descry whether it be but a false 
Hallucination, or whether an actual 
Truth. They repeatedly have listened to 
Communications purporting to have 
Come from the spirit land. The name of the 
Friend who gave the same may in some cases 
Have been given, and he may have been in 
His day (on earth) a very wise man ; yet 
There may have been one thing lacking, and because 
Of that one thing (which was insufficient 
Understanding in the way of communicating) , 
He may not have been able to render 
His statements quite clearly, or he may have 
Failed to engender his language peculiar. 
Those who hear are not satisfied ; they grope 
In the dark without light ; they hold converse 



200 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Together. One doth say, " I can't make it 
Out, although I know there 's something in it." 
Another laughingly says : So and so 
rt Has forgotten his grammar since he became 
A spirit " (as if he was not always 
A spirit). A third one keeps silence, but 
He is wise, and thus his future portends : 
(Thinking) I will not give sleep to mine eyes 
Or slumber to mine eyelids until I 
Search out this matter. — Brother, we rejoice 
For and with thee ; thou art not far from the 
Kingdom. Thy radiant eyes shall soon see ; and 
It shall come to pass, that in the place where 
It was said unto them, ,Ye are not my 
People, there it shall be said unto them, 
"Ye are the sons of the living God." In 
The present case the spirit who did control 
Had no friends below especially dear, 
Or none that could awaken that chord of 
Sympathy and pure love combined which gives 
The true condition requisite to converse 
With those left behind. This is no false 
Conception. Those who are still on the earth 
Sphere living, their dear ones all around them, 
Cannot in their future state of being 
Take an interest as warm as those whose 
Loving ones await them there. Lo this, we 
Have searched it, so it is ; hear it, and know 
Thou it for thy good. w O, that my words were 
Now written ! O, that they were printed in 
A book ! that they were graven with an iron 
Pen and lead in the rock forever ! " 

" Behold, 
He put no truth in his servants ; his angels 
He charged with folly." Here is a circumstance 
A friend relates, illustrating most fully 
The foregoing. Our friend was a lady, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 201 

Also a medium. She was quietly 

Sitting, in company with two gentlemen, 

At a stand. A third person enters the 

Koom (stranger) and is invited to join 

The circle. He replies gruffly, " No, sir." 

The conditions are broken, and no wonder. 

Stranger then makes his boast as follows : " I 

Never yet went to a place where this thing was 

Going on but I broke it up, and sent 

The spirits where they came from, provided 

There were any there. I know," he added, 

w They have nothing to do with moving that 

Table. Just you all take off your hands, and 

See then. If they can raise or move it with 

Hands on, I know they can without thum. It 

Hain't done by no spirits. I investigated 

This thing myself about fifteen years ago. 

I just took out my watch and laid it down 

On the table. Then said I, ' Spirits, I 

Give you leave to go for it : if you 

Can carry it off, it is yours, and I '11 

Give up to the ghosts.' Now, I knew that I 

Was safe. This watch" (pulling it out of his 

Pocket) " lay on that table a half-hour. 

I hain't never lost no watches yet." (I 'm 

Afraid he never won't. ) If he had known 

What a poor fool he was making of himself, 

He would doubtless have kept still ; but, as the 

Saying goes, he laughed at his own folly. 

The lady medium would not on him 

Waste words to any extent. She merely 

Said : " A stove stands there ; within it the fire 

Is bright. You say, r I want my breakfast cooked.' 

Will that fire cook your breakfast ? If some one 

Put it on the stove it might, and most 

Assuredly would. You say again, * Fire, I know 

That if you can cook my breakfast for me 



202 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

When it is put upon the stove, you can 

Cook it anywhere for me ; and when it 's 

Cooked place it on the table. If you can't 

Do that, I say you 're no fire at all, and 

Never shall cook my breakfast any how.' " 

Methinks that if he no breakfast could get, 

Neither dinner or supper, until this 

Same fire the table did set, he would soon 

Change his ditty, and with his own hands his 

Breakfast would place above the contemptible 

Fire. In the cases we cite there 's as much 

Eeason and sense in one as in the other. 

The spirits, in one way, are like the fire, 

They cannot do another's work (a volume 

Might be written on this theme) ; unlike the 

Fire, they can shirk. But they soon do find it 's of 

No great use, for their work will never be 

Done until they do it themselves. The abuse 

Of this rule finds here no home. You can 

Therefore judge of the state of those who have 

Lived in idleness, caring only for 

Pleasure and fine clothes ; they find here a 

Wilderness from which they must work their way 

Out before much society they '11 gain. 

They find, when too late, that their earthly career 

Causes them anguish and pain. 

y And he said 
Unto him, If they hear not Moses and 
The prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
Though one rose from the dead." Few spirits, if 
Any, will condescend to waste their power or 
Their time on such as these, though always ready 
And willing to shower gifts of love their friends 
To please. There never was a truer saying 
Than this : "A man convinced against his will 
Is of the same opinion still." 

" An unjust 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 203 

Man is an abomination to the just : 

And he that is upright in the way is 

Abomination to the wicked." But the 

First half of this text is usually 

Digested ; the world readily acknowledes 

The fact, — or, rather, opinion, for it 

Is not a fact, — that the just hate the unjust, 

But will seldom, even unto themselves, 

Acknowledge that they, in their hearts, despise 

The upright, for it gives their principles 

A bad look. Whereas, from our standpoint, we 

See the text is unequally balanced, 

The scale sinks on the side of injustice. 

Why ? Is justice then sentenced ? On the 

Physical plane it surely is. Extend 

Thy vision farther. Behold ! in the dust 

Injustice and lies; opposite, the scale 

Higher ascends. Justice and truth are found 

Therein : they rise above the earthly plane. 

'T is the same with an upright man : him no 

Narrow views confine. Hates he any? Indeed, 

He would not stoop so low. He may, and does, 

Hate their sins. His love, nevertheless, extends 

To all, above, below ; true sympathy 

And kindness in his bosom reign. 

Brethren 
And friends, "let every soul be subject unto 
The higher powers, for there is no power but 
Of God : the powers that be are ordained of 
God." I know your thoughts. I will not use 
Deceitful words, neither will I flatter 
With my tongue. The way will not be all sunshine, 
Brothers, so long as ye in fleshly 
Tabernacles dwell. There will oft be times 
When you never can tell which way 't is best to 
Go ; but cease to do evil, learn to do 
Well, and clearer thy path will grow. 



204 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I have 
Oft to my God with anguished speech cried in 
Bitterness of heart, and " the things that my 
Soul refused to touch were as my sorrowful 
Meat " ; the way was so dark that I could not 
See. With David can I exclaim, " Out of 
The depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord : 
Lord, hear my voice." For I felt in mine heart, 
M The Lord will hear when I call unto him," 
As a dear little child once said. I oped my 
Bible as one in a dream. These were the 
First words I read : " They that sow in tears shall 
Reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, 
Bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again 
With rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 
Did the Lord hear ? A spirit within said, 
Yea, and my troubled heart e'en then did rejoice. 
I said, "In thee do I trust. Cause me to 
Know the way wherein I should walk ; for I 
Lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver 
Me, O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee 
Unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do 
Thy will ; for thou art my God : thy spirit is 
Good ; lead me into the land of uprightness. 
Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake." 
Time passed, and I again lost faith in His word. 
He showed me not where to go, though I waited 
Patiently for the Lord : He inclined not 
Unto me. I said in mine heart, Why doth 
God forsake ? And now, Lord, what wait I for? 
The answer came from the same good book, 
And once more banished my fears : "Lo, I come : 
In the volume of the book it is written 
Of me." And behold, « I will say to the 
North give up ; and to the South keep not back. 
Remember ye not the former things, neither 
Consider the things of old. Behold, I 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 205 

Will do a new thing ; now it shall spring forth ; 
Shall ye not know it?" He gave me sweet peace, 
My heart was at rest. My spirit had been 
As a bird that wandereth from her nest. 
Now, thank God ! at home again ; and he hath 
Put a new song in my mouth, even praise 
Unto our God. I hope I '11 never again 
Doubt his truth or disbelieve his sure word. 
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 
For he hath graciously my wants supplied. 
Behold now, I have ordered my course. I know 
That I shall be justified. 

There 's another class 
Which I must not slight : their name is Legion, 
I'm told. I hope, in the place of dark they 11 
Choose light, and that before they are old. These 
Are the philosophical sceptics (so called). 
Alas ! they reject the sublimest philosophy 
Of all ; like the Epicureans and 
Stoics who encountered St. Paul, and some 
Said, "What will this babbler say? other some, 
He seemeth to be a setter forth of 
Strange gods." One comes and him questioneth, 
Saying, " May we know what this new doctrine 
Whereof thou speakest is ? for thou bringest 
Certain strange things to our ears : we would know 
What these things mean." And when they heard, some 
Mocked. Others said, " We will hear thee again 
Of this matter." " And the times of this ignorance 
God winked at." Think you he ever winks now? 
But the triumphing of the wicked is short. 
He shall not have quietness ; the heaven shall 
Reveal his iniquity ; the earth shall 
Rise up against him ; that which he 
Labored for shall he restore, and shall not 
Swallow it down. He shall fly away as 
A dream, and shall not be found : yea, 



206 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

He shall be chased away as a vision 

Of the night. Now I have told you before 

It come to pass, that, when it is come to 

Pass, ye might believe. Let the priests, the 

Ministers of the Lord, weep between the 

Porch and the altar, and let them say, spare 

Thy people. The Lord shall utter his voice, 

w And it shall come to pass afterward, that 

I will pour out my spirit upon all 

Flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall 

Prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your 

Young men shall see visions." Surely the Lord 

God will do nothing, but he revealeth 

His secret unto his servants the prophets. 

Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice : for 

The Lord will do great things. Put ye in 

The sickle, for the harvest is ripe : come, 

Get you down : let the weak say, I am strong. 

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley 

Of decision : for the day of the Lord 

Is near in the valley of decision. 

"I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have 

Exalted the low tree, have dried up the 

Green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish : 

I the Lord have spoke and have done it." 

Friends, 
If we have spoken well, thank God, and bear 
Ye witness of it. Your attention still 
For a little space we kindly ask. Turn 
Back, we pray, read the first four lines with 
Which this piece doth commence. And as ye 
Do read, inwardly digest. From this you 
May learn somewhat the opinion of the 
Spirits progressed to a higher, holier 
State. Do such as these come to man's weakness 
Down? On one condition only, — that they 
By pure and loving hearts be drawn ; they come 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 207 

Then most willingly, nor scorn the suppliant's 

Cry. They come because of the good they may 

Bender : their whispers soft are borne on the 

Breeze to loved ones true and tender ; they come 

To those whose souls do upward tend ; their aim 

To interest the same. Good angels love dearly 

Their help to lend to aspiring minds that 

Come and diligently seek from them to 

Learn to walk in the path sublime, — the path 

Which the good and the blest have given the 

Waymarks of truth from time immemorial. 

To you who may this peruse, if you an 

Interest take beyond the purpose yourselves 

To amuse, I wish a few things to state 

In language simple and plain. If you would 

Pure satisfaction derive from your communings 

With the angel world, you positively 

Must strive to seek those things which are above, 

Instead of bringing the angels down to 

The things which you in earth life need, which things 

Yourselves can obtain, and that without the 

Aid of those who would their higher knowledge 

Impart for your advancement and your souVs 

Good. Such converse satisfies the heart. 

Imagine, dear friends, how a spirit pure, 

Inspired with a wish to aid its own loved 

Ones below, would feel, to hear from their lips 

Such questions as these : Tell me what o'clock 

I will have dinner to-day if you can. 

How many cathartic pills shall I take ? 

How soon will the clothes get dry ? What 's the price 

Of pork in Simpson's market ? How many 

Days make a week ? Have I a scar on my 

Neck? 

Are these, my friends, the glorious truths 
You seek ? Have you no higher aim ? Think you 
Your friend's intellect has grown weak in that 



208 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Holy, happy clime ? You surely would not 

Such simple questions put were he or she 

In the form. If you from them require a 

Test, — perfectly right, we are advised to 

"Try the spirits," — if good, they will seek to 

Benefit mankind, showing a friendly 

Spirit toward all. " By their fruits ye shall know 

Them." This is true of disembodied spirits 

As well. Their words and their teachings will show 

According to their merits. The laws of 

God and nature they cannot overleap. 

Neither can you. Therefore, friends, "it is high 

Time to awake out of sleep," more on yourselves 

To depend : the night is far spent, the day 

Is at hand. Let us cast off the works of 

Darkness, and let us put on the armor 

Of light, remembering 

" 'Tis better that souls should upward tend, 

And strive for the victor's crown, 
Than to ask the angels their help to lend, 

And come to man's weakness down." 

" Now, as one mind in the body in a positive condition of elec- 
tricity can perceive and influence another mind in the body in a 
negative condition of electricity, both in rapport with each other, 
and all this without the use of any of the corporeal senses, so a 
spirit out of the body, in a positive condition of electricity, can 
perceive and influence a spirit or mind in the body, in a negative 
condition, and both in rapport, independent of physical organism 
in both cases. This electricity, from the Greek for amber (a res- 
inous substance), in which it was first discovered by the great 
Thales of Miletus, twenty-five hundred years ago, be it remem- 
bered, is an universally diffused, subtle, imponderable, and myste- 
rious element of mind and matter. Some of us are in this negative 
impressible condition naturally ; all of us may become so by prac- 
tice and persevering effort. All such, whether natural or ac- 
quired, are called medium (properly, perhaps, the plural should 
be media, according to the Latin idiom). Through a progressed 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 209 

and practised medium, — for we progress and attain proficiency in 
this as in everything else, — a spirit or angel, formerly of the flesh, 
but now in the spirit world round about us, can speak, write, or 
perform what would be called miracles, or attributed to conjura- 
tion, prestigiation, necromancy, sorcery, legerdemain, jugglery, 
witchcraft, humbug, demonism, electricity, or odyllic force, by the 
ignorant ir wicked. They are made to speak in tongues entirely 
unknown to the medium, such as Hebrew, Greek, French, Italian, 
etc., and write in the precise hand of others, deceased and un- 
known to them. They are made to perform in the most masterly 
manner on the piano, flute, guitar, and other instruments, to 
which they were perfect strangers, and execute pieces of music 
of which they knew nothing. The experienced, progressed, and 
proficient mediums have an internal, direct, mental communica- 
tion, independent of the temporal or physical sensorium, and thus 
see, and feel, and converse with their spirit friends, through this 
mystic medium of mentality, with as much certainty and celerity 
as with their friends in the flesh, and much more interest, satis- 
faction, and pleasure. You know that, in electricity, two positive 
conditions repel, as well as the negatives repel, each other. All 
creations, from the most infinitesimal inorganic atom to man, 
the highest development of the earth plane, and no doubt through- 
out the solar, stellar, and all astronomic creations, are endowed 
with two principles of electricity, positive and negative, or oppo- 
site magnetic polarities, the similar of which repel, and dissimilar 
attract, each other ; or endowed with two opposite sexes, positive 
and negative, the dissimilar of which, like the other electric prin- 
ciples, have an affinity for each other, y- the Iho and Hohi, the 
male and female, and the Elohi and Eloho, the good and evil 
principle of the ancient Gymnasophists. One person in the posi- 
tive condition of electricity can perceive and influence another 
person in the negative to him, when in rapport with each other,, 
and all their conditions harmonious, regardless of intervening, 
clothes, flesh, brick walls, or distance. 

This is effectuated through the all-pervading, omnipresent, uni- 
versal element or agent that permeates every atom, as well as all 
space, — there is really no vacant space, for this element fills up. 
all that might seem such, — an extremely attenuated and refined 
electricity or subtle fluid, which we call electro-ether, which we' 
cannot perceive through our physical senses, any more than we 



210 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

can see sound, hear light, or feel either, or taste, smell, or in any 
other sensual way perceive magnetism. Now, in just this way, 
through this agent, this great nerve power of the universe, ex- 
carnated men communicate with incarnated men. Here is the 
philosophy in nuce. The receptive medium, isolated from all 
surroundings, is negative to, and comes in rapport with, the ex- 
carnated spirit, who then controls and uses the physical organism 
of the medium at will, just as the psychological operator controlled 
and used the persons already described. 

Why are these certain conditions necessary, you ask. If it can be 
done by one excarnated to one incarnated, why not by all the former 
and to all the latter ? I ask in return, why not thus among men 
in the flesh, in mesmerism, clairvoyance, psychology ? But we 
know it is not : only by and to certain persons in certain condi- 
tions. And this is in strict accordance with all the known analo- 
gies of nature. In all its elemental operations nature is very 
exact and specific. Eight parts of oxygen and one of hydrogen, 
by weight, or one of oxygen to two of hydrogen, by measure, and 
no other proportions, will make pure water. The seed will not 
germinate except in certain conditions of heat and moisture ; the 
lightning will not leap forth except in certain conditions of posi- 
tive and negative. It is only on certain and propitious conditions 
that the human race is elaborated and perpetuated. Why does it 
require a metallic wire instead of a tow-string to make a tele- 
graph ? And why has that wire to be insulated from all other 
conductors ? just as the spirit medium has to be isolated from all 
other distractions ? And hear what the wise man of the Bible 
says on this point, who wrote as if he fully understood it : ' There 
is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit.' 
And Jesus showed himself not to all, but only a few chosen wit- 
nesses, etc. 

Eapport is a French word, and is defined relation or affinity. I 
use it to mean a peculiar nervous affinity or congenial mental 
sympathy. I may come into rapport with you, by bringing my 
nerve system into harmony with yours, and yours with mine ; in 
this condition, if I am in the negative, if you have a pain any- 
where, I will feel the same pain, the same where ; this is the prin- 
ciple of spiritual inspiration. Two strings of equal length, size, 
kind, and tension will both vibrate together in perfect unison, if 
but one is touched and sounded by the hand : it will communicate 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 211 

its vibration through the intervening atmosphere to the other, 
and thus cause it to vibrate in perfect unison with itself. This is 
harmony. Again it is said, that two strings equal in every respect, 
except that one is fixed permanently, and the other so strung as 
to be capable of yielding, when the fixed one is constantly vibra- 
ted, the other, receiving the vibrations through the air, will after 
a while adapt itself to the same, and vibrate in unison. We know 
that the strings of a violin, when kept constantly in tune, will 
sound and accord much better than when left in a contrary con- 
dition ; and also that one sound, as of thunder, for example, will 
affect the glass, another the window frames, another the house, 
etc., varying not in volume and power, but in some other peculi- 
arity, and seeming to receive ready response from those objects 
only which are in unison in this peculiarity. It is said, that fine 
sand spread in a thin layer over a thin sheet of membrane, drawn 
tightly over a wineglass, will form regular lines and figures, with 
astonishing celerity, varying with the sound. Sir Isaac Xewton 
discovered that the prismatic rays of light correspond in perfect 
harmony with the diatonic scale of music. And see the various 
effects of music upon men. In some it excites a martial ambi- 
tion ; in others, a sweet serenity ; in yet others and by far the 
greatest number it excites mirth and hilarity, and starts the feet 
instinctively to dancing. Much is due .to the character of the 
music, I admit, in exciting these various emotions, but more to 
the character of the mind or subject. A certain kind of music 
will arouse one person and a different kind another ; but all will 
be touched or stirred in the predominating characteristic. This 
again is harmony ; and harmony is one fundamental, if not the 
fundamental principle of the universe. Pythagoras, twenty-three 
centuries ago, saw this, and believed the spheres made music in 
their revolutions; and by the way, this illustrious and illumi- 
nated man not only first discovered the circulation of blood, but 
was the first who taught the immortality of the soul, under the 
appellation and theory of metempsychosis, though he lived con- 
temporaneous with some of the later prophets. We also know 
that the magnetic needle, when allowed to rest with the proper 
polar point to the north, will remain more true and reliable than 
when left in any other position. Thus, also, if a straight bar of 
soft iron be held in a nearly vertical position, with the lower end 
deviating to the north, and struck several times with a hammer, 



212 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

it will acquire the properties of a magnet ; and if the iron be 
pure and soft and the experiment repeated, it will become thor- 
oughly magnetized ; but soft iron will not retain the magnetism 
like hard or impure iron, of which consists the permanent native 
magnet. Magnetism is another form of electricity, the similar 
properties of which repel, and the dissimilar attract each other. 
From these illustrations we may derive one reason for the rapid 
proficiency of practical mediums over those out of practice, or 
out of tune, or not in the proper harmonic condition ; and also 
analogical demonstration of mediumistic educability. The pow- 
ers of a medium, like those of a magnet, are impaired or lost by 
disuse ; and as heat weakens or destroys the powers of a magnet, 
so it does those of a medium. 

In connection with this let us remember that electricity itself 
is cold. The chemical result of fire on combustible substances, 
as, for instance, when lightning strikes and sets fire to a tree, is 
caused by intense mechanical friction, like the instantaneous and 
powerful impact of a cannon-ball. This subtle and tremendous 
agent possesses both mechanical and chemical powers physically, 
and mental or spiritual power metaphysically, or at least is an 
agent of the latter. And as nothing affects the magnet but those 
things for which it has an affinity, so nothing affects a medium 
but those spirits for whom it has an affinity; and, further, as 
nothing is impervious to the penetration or prevents the flow and 
action of the electro-spirit-ether. This mesmeric magnetism is 
destined yet to develop more startling wonders in the grand 
economy of creation. You should not be astonished at my asser- 
tion that there is a galvanic, mesmeric (so called because discov- 
ered by Galvani and Mesmer), magnetic, electric, ethereal medium 
of spirit pervading our entire planetary system, and probably 
solar system, and perhaps all systems, when I inform you that, 
according to Farraday, the variations of our magnetic needle 
correspond with the variations of the spots in the sun; that the 
periodicity of both these variations has become a visible fact; 
both increase or decrease together, embracing a period of ten 
years ; thus establishing solar, stellar, and terrestrial magnetism 
in mutual and reciprocal connection. All these subtile refined 
media move by undulatory, vibratory, or pulsatory wave move- 
ment, as light, sound, heat, electricity, the magnetic polarization 
with which all bodies and atoms are endowed : and just so moves 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 213 

our nervous fluid through which mind operates upon mind in or 
out of the flesh ; and just so moves the vital current of our ani- 
mal organism. Thus when my nerve fluid vibrates in unison 
with yours, as two musical strings in accord, we are in rapport 
with each other. This is spiritual harmonic unison. The oper- 
ator, in mesmerizing his subject, becomes positive to the subject, 
and will succeed as soon as he comes into rapport with him, in 
unisonant nervous vibration, and never before. Just so with the 
excarnated spirit and earthly medium, the latter being negative 
and receptive, quiescent and plastic, completely subject to the 
positive will of the spirit. Some of us are naturally in this con- 
dition to some other person either in or out of the flesh ; all may 
become so by proper effort, — not effort of positive, energetic 
action, but of calm, quiescent, confiding condition of pure, sin- 
cere desire of good. This is the condition of prayer. Not to 
inform or dictate to God, to change his mind, his will, his laws, 
or in any way interfere with his plans or his providence ; for it 
is simply impious and ridiculous to attempt it. Xor can the 
Deity thus violate his own laws or i nature of things/ and gratify 
our ignorant and selfish petitions, for God cannot lie. But in 
fervent silence and sincerity, in negative and receptive condition 
of feelings, with exalted aspirations for the good and the true, 
with all the outside world and its selfish animalities shut out 
from the soul, and thoughts and desires lifted up after higher 
spheres, some pure spirit from those higher spheres, in sympa- 
thetic unison, will come and comfort us and enlighten and lift 
us up and communicate through the mystic medium of inspira- 
tion. This is true prayer and i availeth much/ If we would 
have the influx of inspiration from pure spirits, we must become 
pure ourselves; we must bring ourselves up to this high plane, 
that higher angels may reach us. You know the direction 
was not to go into the public houses and do tall talking and big 
blowing, but retire in the silence and sincerity of the soul, lifting 
up fervent aspirations for higher influences. The reason Moses 
was not taught and elevated as was Socrates and the man of Naz- 
areth to return good for evil, is because he did not occupy the 
high plane of inspiration. In the words of Tiffany, ' Paul, Peter, 
John, etc., were not equal to their Master, because they had not 
attained his elevated condition of natural harmonic development ; 
had they occupied his pure plane, God could have communicated 



214 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

to them as well as to their teacher; and it would not have been 
necessary for them to have a middle man to come between them 
and God. "When you have risen to this plane of communication, 
the communication is internal. You have no outward form of 
expression, because you have the thought itself by inspiration. 
In the language of the apostle, God writes his language in your 
understandings and in your affections. All communications with 
the spirit world proceeding according to this law, each man's 
communication will be according to his plane; if in the low plane 
of lust, his communications will be of that character; if in love, 
his communications will be of that character. But even the 
lowest, by putting himself in the condition of prayer, by aspiring 
for the good and the holy, by putting up earnest petitions for 
aid, will always find a spirit near to sustain and elevate him.' 
Generally, men will pray when there is need for it ; it is as natu- 
ral to invoke the help of higher and purer powers when we re- 
quire it, as it is to call for food when hungry. Generally, I say, 
but not invariably, for exceptional cases occur here, as well as in 
all of nature's operations. As a morbid condition of the physical 
system sometimes feels no hunger when the system requires food, 
and at others craves food when it is not required, so, in the mor- 
bid condition of a sin-seared man. he feels not the disposition of 
praying for superior help when he really needs it, and in others, 
prays intensely for supernal aid, when he is guilty of no heinous 
sin, and no such supervenient help is needed." 

From " Spiritualism Explained v the following : "Did I wish 
to communicate with a spirit, who has unfolded in him a spirit 
consciousness, which can be addressed in any other way than 
through the physical eye, or ear, or touch, and being so divested 
of this physical form, that my mind comes in absolute contact 
with this spirit medium, which permeates all space, and which 
internally and spiritually corresponds to light external and phys- 
ical, and passes through bodies opaque to light, — then my spirit 
form acts upon the spirit medium, which is not impeded by this 
wall, but which passes through it as light through transparent 
glass, carrying my image with it. We say that glass is transpar- 
ent, because light passes freely through it, and brings the image 
of that which it would represent. We see an individual or ten 
[images] coming freely through the glass into the room. Now, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 215 

if we have a medium which will pass as freely through a board, 
then that board is as transparent to that medium as glass is to 
light. The magnetic medium by which the magnetic needle is 
influenced passes freely through a board even ; therefore to that 
medium the board is as transparent as glass is to light. It is also 
well to understand that this nerve medium, as well as the spirit- 
ual medium corresponding to the mind, — which is to the mind 
what the medium of light is to the eye, — passes freely through 
these opaque bodies. Therefore the individual brought in con- 
tact with this medium will see spirit existences, not by their pres- 
ence in the consciousness, but by that which represents the pres- 
ence there. Hence it is that the clairvoyant (when you have 
proceeded with your manifestation, until you have insulated the 
mind, or brought it into clear rapport with, this spiritual medium 
or atmosophere, so that he sees by the spiritual sight, and hears 
by the spiritual ear, and no longer sees with the physical eye, or 
hears with the physical ear) comes in contact with this spiritual 
medium, and can look out into another room and tell what is 
transpiring, who is there, etc., just as we can look through glass 
and tell what we see. The principle is precisely the same. The 
medium by which he perceives things in another room freely 
permeates or passes through the intervening walls ; so that al- 
though my spiritual form is still in this body, yet it is actually 
exerting its influence on this spiritual medium throughout the 
world, — throughout not only this world, but throughout the solar 
system. 

Wherever this spiritual medium extends, this spiritual image 
of mine is taken and carried out through that medium, just as 
my physical image is carried out through the medium of light ; 
and whoever comes into rapport with that spirit medium and in- 
fluence, and undulates to the same motion, will perceive that form. 
Hence, coming into the clairvoyant condition, I, being in New 
York, may see a person in London or Pekin, if it so happen that 
the undulation of my mind on this medium be such as to har- 
monize with that of the individual in London or Pekin ; not that 
his spirit is personally here present, or my spirit personally present 
there (but I am here in my spirit consciousness, and he there in 
his spirit consciousness), but because his image as well as mine is 
here, and there, and everywhere else. The idea that my mind 
goes to London, or his comes here, is altogether a misconception.. 



216 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I perceive that individual in London, not by his absolute pres- 
ence, but by that which represents that presence here ; just as I 
see you, not by your presence in my mind, but by that which rep- 
resents your presence there. I am looking on this congregation, 
and therefore the person seeing me sees me surrounded by this 
congregation. He does not see you, but since you are in my mind, 
your image goes with mine. The person coming into rapport 
with me sees you as your image exists in my mind. If any one 
doubts this law, I am ready to be questioned. Bring up any case 
you please, either from the temporal or spiritual world, and I will 
show that this is the law. It is a fallacious idea that spirits can- 
not communicate without being actually present and at any other 
place at the same time. They can be present whenever there is a 
mind in rapport with them to see that presence. 

People talk about their being so rapid in their passage from 
here to Boston or London, etc. This is all explained when you 
understand the law of manifestation. ' Why are not all medi- 
ums?' * Why cannot all get communications, and at all times?' 
etc. If we wish to get a communication, we must conform to the 
conditions required by the law : and if we do not conform to these 
conditions, God himself could not give it to us. The laws of 
manifestation and communication are as fixed and immutable as 
God's own being. I was once one of those things called medi- 
ums, and am now perhaps to some extent ; when I was partially 
asleep there would be very loud raps, and if you could come in 
without waking me up, you might get a communication : and it 
has ever been so when I am peculiarly quiet mentally, but the 
moment I rouse up and ask questions, I can get no reply. There 
are others who require exactly opposite conditions, whose bodies 
are too active for their minds, in whose presence you can get rap- 
pings, by reducing the action of the body ; but change them from 
that point, the manifestation ceases. There are others, who in 
the normal state seem to comply with all the conditions neces- 
sary : that is, whose vital and nervous systems are the same ; but 
you stir or excite them any way, and the manifestations cease, sim- 
ply because there is no harmonic action between the mental and 
physical system. Persons boast at times of being able to destroy 
the power of mediums ; but nothing could be simpler, for a pow- 
erful battery may have its action stopped, by lifting out the con- 
necting wire. It is often the case, that the entrance of a person 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 217 

into a circle where manifestations are occurring causes their 
discontinuance, and the person is perhaps astonished to think the 
spirits should be so contrary ; it was simply because he had come 
in, and violated the conditions by which they could manifest ; he 
had, so to speak, disturbed one of the plates of the battery. One 
class of individuals in the sphere of lust, in what we call the low 
and polluted plane, cannot come into rapport with those occupy- 
ing a higher plane. * There is an impassable gulf between them/ 
It is useless to open doors or windows for spirits to enter, for a 
door is as transparent to the medium by which they are repre- 
sented, as a pane of glass is to the medium of light. Jesus appeared 
in the midst of his disciples, though they were shut up ; and when 
the time came for his disappearance, he ceased to be seen, not by 
going out of the door or window, but by disturbing the conditions 
by which he was represented in their consciousness. In respect of 
spirit mansions, etc., in the spiritual world, we are very liable to 
mistake representation for actuality ; we are very liable to mistake 
images of things, creations, so to speak, proceeding from the 
minds of the spirits, for actualities. We are very apt to perceive 
animals ; some think that animals have a living form, and exist 
in the spiritual world : but I pretend to say it is not true ; I know 
very well how they appear there : I know very well how it is that 
persons suppose they do exist, and why spirits in the spiritual 
world appear to have their dogs, cats, — their pet animals. The 
condition of immortality cannot pertain to the mere animal being. 
The representations of animals, forests, fields, and things of this 
kind have no basis upon that which has a material or actual ex- 
istence in the universe ; they are only developed under the law of 
representation ; if you will only investigate the law of represen- 
tation, you will have no difficulty in accounting for these things 
in the spiritual world." 

Again : " When I go to the spirit world, I must take that with 
me, of which I must be conscious, else I shall not take my individ- 
uality with me, else I become annihilated. Just to the extent I 
leave my affections behind me, shall I be annihilated as a spiritual 
being. When I go to the spiritual world, I must take my charac- 
ter with me, that which is made an integral part of my spiritual 
character by its development in me ; of course then, wherever I 
go that must go ; the love that rules within me must go with me, 
until that ruling love is changed, or until some holier love shall 



218 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

call me to a higher plane of action. I am prepared to maintain 
that when we go to the spiritual world, we shall take with us all 
the loves, affections, thoughts, feelings, and sentiments which 
characteize us as individual beings. 

The idea that when a spirit leaves the body he gets rid Of all 
his impurity, has caused many to greatly venerate spiritual com- 
munications, and attach to them much authority. I remember 
that it was with much deference that I listened to the first commu- 
nications that came from the spirit world ; but I very soon learned 
that a spirit was not necessarily wiser because of his separation 
from the body. Not that they are below the world ; for when you 
have taken an average of the justice and wisdom of the world, you 
will find that the standard it could set up would not be very high. 
When you look over the earth and witness the very low state of 
character of the human race here, why should you wonder that 
spirits of a very low character should hover around us and mani- 
fest themselves to the world ? " 

And again : " I know that spirits do communicate, do exist. 
It is not with me a matter of conjecture at all; I know it," etc. 

Quotations from "Spiritualism Scientifically Demonstrated." 

" The facts which I have noticed in relation to mediumship are 
certainly among the most inexplicable in nature. 

There are two modes in which spiritual manifestations are 
made, through the influence or sub-agency of media. In the one 
mode, they employ the tongue to speak, the fingers to write, or 
hands to actuate tables or instruments for communication ; in the 
other, they act upon ponderable matter directly, through a halo 
or aura appertaining to media ; so that although the muscular 
power may be incapacitated for aiding them, they will cause a body 
to move, or produce raps intelligibly, so as to select letters convey- 
ing their ideas, uninfluenced by those of the medium. 

Eappings or tappings are made at the distance of many feet 
from the medium, and ponderable bodies, such as bells, are moved 
or made to undergo the motion requisite to being rung. My spirit 
father, in reply to the queries put in relation to this mystery, 
asks, ' How do you move your limbs, carry the body wherever it 
goeth? How does God cause the movements of astronomical 
orbs ? ' Evidently some instrument must intervene between the 
Divine will and the bodies actuated thereby, and in humble imita- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 219 

tions between the human will and the limbs. Upon . the viscera 
our will has no influence. The heart moves without the exercise 
of volition. 

It is evident, from the creative power which the spirits avow 
themselves to possess, that they exercise faculties which they do 
not understand. Their explanation of the mysteries of medium- 
ship only substitutes one mystery for another. The only explana- 
tion which I can conceive is, that spirits, by volition, can deprive 
bodies of vis inertia, and move bodies, as they do themselves, by 
their will. But the necessity of the presence of a medium to the 
display of this power, granting its existence, is a mystery. 

That the spirit should, by its ' magic ? will-power, take posses- 
sion of the frame of a human being, so as to make use of its brain 
and nervous system, depriving its appropriate owner of control, 
is a wonderful fact, sufficiently difficult to believe, yet, neverthe- 
less, intelligible. The aura which surrounds a medium must be 
imponderable. No volition of the medium can, through its in- 
strumentality, move ponderable bodies, nor cause raps or conse- 
quent vibrations in the wooden boards. Hence, the presence of a 
medium imparts power to spirits which the medium does not pos- 
sess. 

It has appeared to me a great error on the part of spirits, as 
well as mortals, that they should make efforts to explain the phe- 
nomena of the spirit world by the ponderable or imponderable 
agents of the temporal world. The fact that the rays of our sun 
do not affect the spirit world, and that there is for that region 
an appropriate luminary, whose rays we do not perceive, must 
demonstrate that the imponderable element to which they owe 
their peculiar light differs from the ethereal fluid, which, accord- 
ing to the undulatory theory, is the means of producing light in 
the terrestrial creation. 

As there is an ethereal medium by means of which light moves 
through space to the remotest visible fixed star to the eye, at the 
rate of two hundred thousand miles per second, through an af- 
fection of the same ether f rictional electricity moves, according to 
Wheatstone's argument estimate, with a velocity exceeding that 
of light, so may we not infer that the instrument of Divine will 
acts with still greater velocity, and that in making man in this 
respect after his own image, so far as necessary to an available ex- 
istence, gives him one degree of power over the same element 



220 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

while in the mortal state, and another higher degree of power in 
the spiritual state ? But if there he an element through which a 
spirit within his mortal frame is capable of actuating that frame, 
may not this element of actuation be susceptible of becoming an 
instrument to the will of another spirit in the immortal state ? 

Concerned in the processes, of mediumship, it is manifest that 
there is none of that kind of electricity or magnetism of which 
the laws and phenomena have been the subject of Farraday's re- 
searches, and which are treated of in books, under the heads of f ric- 
tional or mechanical electricity, galvanism, or electro-magnetism. 

Frictional electricity, such as produced usually by the friction 
of glass in an electrical machine, or of aqueous globules generated 
by steam escaping from a boiler, is always to be detected by elec- 
trometers, or the spark given to a conducting body when in com- 
munication with the earth; the human knuckle, for instance. 
When not sufficiently accumulated to produce these evidences of 
its presence, it must be in a very feeble state of excitement. But 
even in highest accumulation by human means, as in the discharge 
of a powerfully charged Leyden battery, it only acts for a time in- 
conceivably brief, and does not move ponderable masses as they 
are moved in the instance of spiritual manifestations. It is only 
in transitu that frictional electricity displays much power, and 
then its path is extremely narrow, and the duration of its influ- 
ence inconceivably minute. According to Wheatstone's experi- 
ments and calculations, it would go round the earth in the tenth 
part of a second. 

How infinitely small, then, the period required to go from one 
side of a room to another ! Besides, there are neither means of 
generating such electricity, nor of securing that insulation which 
must be an indispensable precursor of accumulation. Galvanic 
or voltaic electricity does not act at a distance so as to produce 
any recognized effects, except in the case of magnetic metals, or 
in the state of transition produced by an electric discharge. In 
these phenomena the potent effects are attainable only by means 
of perfect insulated conductors, as we see in the telegraphic ap- 
paratus. No reaction with imperfect conducting bodies compe- 
tent to toss them to and fro, or up and down, can be accomplished. 
The decomposing influence, called electrolytic, is only exhibited 
at insensible distances, within a filament of the matter affected. 

In one of the replies made by the convocation the idea was 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 221 

sanctioned of the effulgence of the spirit being due to an appro- 
priate ethereal fluid, analogous to that above alluded to. But it 
has, I think, been shown by me, that as light is due to the undu- 
lations of our ether, so electricity is due to waves of polarization. 
But if undulations produce light in the ether of the spiritual 
universe as well as in ours, why may not polarization produce in 
the ether of the spirit world an electricity analogous to ours? 
Thus, although in spiritual manifestations Our electricity takes 
no part, their electricity may be the means by which their will is 
transmitted effectually in the phenomena which it controls. 

The aura on one side, and the spirit on the other, are inert un- 
less associated. Thus the volition of the spirit gives activity 
to an effluvium, by itself so devoid of efficacy that it wholly 
escapes the perception of the possessor or the observation of his 
mundane companions. It has been already alleged that the usual 
reference to mundane electricity must be wholly unsatisfactory to 
all acquainted with the phenomena and laws associated under 
that name; since no such movements have ever been produced 
b} r such electrical means, nor is it consistent with these mundane 
electrical laws, nor the facts which electricians have noticed, that 
such movements should be produced. Those movements which 
have been produced by electricity have never been effected with- 
out surfaces oppositely charged, nor, of course, without the means 
of charging them. Neither are there associated with the spiritual 
manifestations means at hand of creating nor of holding charges 
even much more minute than those which display perceptible 
force or cause audible sound. Electro-magnetic phenomena re- 
quire the use of powerful galvanic batteries or magnetic metals. 
Galvanic series, of the most powerful kind, do not act at the mi- 
nutest distance without contact. 

Even lightning could not move a table backward and forward, 
though it might shatter it into pieces, if duly interposed into a 
circuit. Electrical sparks produce snapping sounds in the air, 
not knockings or rappings upon sonorous solids. An incredulity 
liable to be overcome by the reason by which it has been created 
does not form a bar ; but where an impregnable bigotry has been 
introduced merely by education, so that the person under its in- 
fluence would have been a Catholic, Calvinist, Unitarian, Jew, or 
Mohammedan by a change of parentage, cannot usually be 
changed by any evidence or argument. Spirits will not spend their 



222 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

time subjecting their manifestations to such impregnable bigotry, 
or to predetermined malevolence. 

On this account such persons find it hard to obtain the mani- 
festations which they seek with ill-will to Spiritualism, and a 
predisposition to ridicule and pervert it. 

Besides this difficulty, there is no doubt a constitutional state, 
the inverse of that which creates a medium. The atmosphere of 
persons so constituted neutralizes that of those who are endowed 
with that of mediumship. 

It were impossible for any one to be more incredulous than I 
was when I commenced my investigations ; but in the first place 
my recorded religious impressions, founded on more than a half- 
century of intense reflection, in no respect conflicted with the 
belief which Spiritualism required. As I said to a clergyman, I 
wish I knew as well what I ought to believe, as I can perceive 
what I ought not to believe. I was ardently desirous that the 
existence of a future state should be established in a way to con- 
form to positive science, so that they might start together. This 
was perceived by my spirit friends, and that they had only to give 
me sufficient evidence of the existence of spirits and their world 
to make me lay down in the cause my comparatively worthless 
mortal life, could I be more useful to truth in dying than 
living. 

Thus it appears that there is a mesmeric electricity, or spiritual 
electricity, which may be considered as appropriate to the spirit 
world as their vital air is, but which, like that air, may influence 
our spiritual bodies while in their mundane tenement. It may, as 
well as the vital air of the spirit world, belong in common to the 
inhabitants of this world, and to us as spirits, being a polarizing 
affection of the spiritual ethereal medium of which the undula- 
tions constitute the peculiar rays of their spiritual sun. 

That this spiritual or mesmeric electricity should be auxiliary 
to the efficacy of the magic will-power of spirits, is of course one 
of those mysteries which, like those of gravitation, may be ascer- 
tained to prevail, and yet be to spirits as well as mortals inexpli- 
cable. 

The words ' magnetism ' and ( magnetic ' are used in this world 
in two different senses. In one it signifies the magnetism of mag- 
nets or electro-magnets ; in the other, the animal magnetism of 
which the existence was suggested by Mesmer, and which is com- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 223 

monly called mesmerism. This mesmerical magnetism seems to 
be dependent rather on properties which we have as immortals 
encased in a corporeal clothing, than as mortals owing our men- 
tal faculties to that frame. If it be the spiritual portion of our 
organization which is operative in clairvoyancy, spiritual elec- 
tricity may be the intermedium both of that faculty and of mes- 
meric influence. 

. All spirits are clairvoyant more or less, and where this faculty 
is exercised, it seems to be due to an unusual ascendency of the 
spiritual powers over the corporeal, so that clairvoyants possess 
some of the faculties which every spirit, after shuffling off the 
mortal coil, must possess to a greater or less extent. The means 
by which they are capable of communicating are various, and 
moreover precious, according to the health and equanimity of the 
mortal being under whose halo they may strive to act. 

Spirits cannot approach effectively a medium of a sphere much 
above, or below, that to which they belong; as media, in propor- 
tion as they are more capable of serving for the higher intellec- 
tual communications, are less capable of serving for mechanical 
demonstrations: and as they are more capable of the latter, are 
less competent for the former ; spirits likewise have a higher or 
lower capacity to employ media. 

These facts make the subject of mediumship a most complicated 
mystery; but the creation teems with mystery, so that inscruta- 
bility cannot be a ground of disbelief of anything. The only 
cases wherein there is absolute incredibility are those in which 
the definition of the premises contradicts those of the inferences, 
or conclusions. 

If we undertake to generalize, it must come pretty near to what 
I have said above, that spirits are endowed, so my spirit father 
alleges, with a ' magic will/ capable of producing, as they allege, 
wonderful results within their own world : nevertheless, that this 
will does not act by itself directly on mundane bodies. An inter- 
medium is found in the halo or aura within 01 without certain 
human organizations ; the halos thus existing are not all simi- 
larly endowed, some having one, some another capability; some 
are better for one object, some for another object. Again, the will- 
power varies, as the sphere of the spirits is higher or lower, so 
that the medium suited for one is not suited for another. 

The aura of a medium, which thus enables an immortal spirit 



224 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

to do within its scope, things which it cannot do otherwise, ap- 
pears to vary with the human being resorted to : so that only a 
few are so endowed with this aura, as to be competent as media. 
Moreover, in those who are so constituted, as to be competent 
instruments of spiritual actuation, this competency is various. 
There is a gradation of competency, by which the nature of the 
instrumentality varies from that which empowers violent loud 
knocking, and the moving of ponderable bodies without actual 
contact, to the grade which confers power to make intellectual 
communications of the higher order, without that of audible 
knocking. Further, the power to employ these grades of medium- 
ship varies as the sphere of the spirit varies. 

It has been stated, that mortals have each a halo, perceptible to 
spirits, by which they are enabled to determine the sphere to 
which any individual will go on passing death's portal." 

Davis says, " Spirits in all past times, when they have commu- 
nicated with man, observed, though they did not well understand 
the great principles of aromal intercourse," which Mr. Putman 
thus elucidates : " Place a small bunch of fragrant violets in each 
of two vases upon your centre table, and the aroma or fragrance 
of each bunch will extend to the other, and blend with the other's 
aroma, both around and in the bunch, and through all the space 
between the two. Now these lines or rays of fragrance from one, 
that intermix with, and run parallel to, similar lines from the 
other, may be telegraphic wires, along which the violets might, 
if intelligent, send back and forth their mutual thoughts and feel- 
ing ; remove one bunch of violets, and put a rose in its place, and 
the blended rays will produce a different odor, which might be 
more agreeable to some of us, and less so to others. A similar 
blending of electrical aromas doubtless take place when any two 
of us meet, and also between each of us and any spirit that may 
be in attendance upon us; such aroma, though it escapes our 
senses, is yet perceived by the dog : and the dog's power of discern- 
ment teaches, that no two of us give off effluvia that are precisely 
alike. Now the electrical evolutions of one human body may be 
such as will readily combine with the electrical emanations from 
some spirits, and the two in close and concordant alliance, like 
muscle and nerve, may be adequate to the performance of such 
works as we are now considering. Some such affinity and coales- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 225 

cence, I suppose, takes place whenever one is what we call a me- 
dium ; but the same electrical condition in a spirit, which adapts 
him or her to work through some one of us, may yet be unsuited 
to work kindly with another person, whose electrical aroma is 
either much more or much less positive. Spirits may differ as 
much in power to use men, as men differ in susceptibilities to be 
used by the spirits; the work is done through an aromal inter- 
course, and it is only when the spirit aroma and the mundane 
aroma combine in harmonious equilibrium, making as it were but 
one, and that one subject to the spirit's will, that man becomes 
the spirit's instrument. Violet and violet may furnish an efficient 
mixture, while violet and rose combined may be unfit for use." 

We will now give from the same author some explanations of 
mesmerism, the key which may unlock many long-closed cham- 
bers of mystery. Every reader has doubtless asked, " What is 
mesmerism ? " This being put forth as a solvent of many great 
mysteries of all times and among all people, what is this mesmer- 
ism itself ? 

" Frankly, it is quite a mystery yet, but it is not looked upon 
as involving anything supernatural, devilish, or in such a sense 
miraculous, as to imply either a suspension or a violation of nat- 
ural laws in its processes of manifestations. Through it we learn 
that some men, by a concentrated application of their mental 
forces, aided often by the eye or the hand, can either take from 
or impart to certain persons some property or fluid which enables 
the operator to become master in the subject's house or body. 
Through that other body he manifests himself, but he does this 
only imperfectly. He has power there, but not power equal to 
that which he can display through his own organs. A man is 
cramped when he has to take a borrowed body, therefore a spirit 
well may be so too. In successful mesmerism, the subject will 
walk, or sit, or kneel, or lie down ; will move this way or that ;, 
will perform the most ludicrous or the most appropriate acts ;; 
will see one object or another ; will taste or smell or feel any im- 
aginable substance, whether present or not, just according to the- 
will of the operator. But this is not all ; frequently such posses- 
sion affects a liberation of the subject's intellectual and perceptive- 
faculties from the control, not of the operator alone, but also* 
from the crampings of his own external organs, and thus enables 



226 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

him to look out through walls of solid masonry, through hills of 
granite, and into the most interior recesses of the human body, 
or any other animal or vegetable organism. He seems to possess 
perceptive faculties which enable him to see and hear and sense 
through all material objects, at vast distances and in all direc- 
tions. Thus conditioned, he can read the autobiography of any 
natural object, scan the distant, and get glimpses of the future. 
He seems like one freed from the body, and endowed with organs 
which use electricity as their medium of sight and sound, and 
thus can he see and hear through whatever electricity can pene- 
trate ; that is, through almost, if not quite, all material objects. 
Some men, then, possess and can put forth such will-power as 
makes certain other men their objects and unresisting tools, sim- 
ple unconscious organs by which to express their own thoughts 
and purposes. Sometimes such control is absolute, but in more 
eases only partial ; and such a subduing force, when carried beyond 
a certain point, pushes the subject's intellectual and perceptive 
faculties into unwonted freedom and independence, and makes 
him a more independent and gifted man than before. 

Such are the results of human magnetism, called mesmerism 
only because Mesmer applied it, and drew attention to it more 
definitely and extensively than any one had done before or since 
his time. The getting control of another's organism, either by 
abstracting from it or imparting to it human magnetism, is mes- 
merism. It is the action of one mind, in connection with its en- 
veloping body, upon another's body and its indwelling mind. It 
is some action of the living upon the living, and not upon tables 
and chairs. 

We come now to the raps and tips. This working outside of and 
distant from the medium's body, and this infusion of animation 
and intelligence into inanimate wood, is more than mesmerism 
has ever claimed or seemed to perform. The visible, living man, 
acting upon a visible, living organism, is always involved in mes- 
merism ; but many of the physical manifestations of Spiritualism 
imply some invisible power revealing intelligence through inani- 
mate matter. The raps and knockings and table-tippings have 
never come out among the works of mesmerism. The harsh 
poundings, the childish tiltings, the unmannerly antics of heavy 
pianos and large dining-tables are, as many say, too low and vul- 
gar for any decent mind in the body to wish for or to prompt ; 



THE U>' SEA T.ED BOOK, __" 

no well-bred mesmerist ever calls for such results- True, true ; 
but would they come if he did call for them ? Xo : he does not 
show the raps and tips. And why not ? Simply because he can- 
not. These low and ridiculed work3 lie beyond the farthest 
stretch of his powers. A table rising and floatiDg gently in the 
air. a piano dancing to the tune that is being played upon its 
a human form rising gently from the floor toward the ceiling, 
and moving, dove-like, around the room, a chair tipping in a:. 
to questions, and all this where neither muscle, nor machi: 
nor any tangible mechanical power was applied, — these th r 
and others like them, which are happening every month, and are 
seen over and over again by many credible witnesses, these thing3 
are not found in mesmerism. Did animal magnetism, did elec- 
tricity, did odyle, did either or all of these constitute the in- 
telligent actor in the chair which answered my questions ? Xo ; 
these fluids or forces of nature are not mind. 

They do not, they cannot guide and control action so a= :: 
converse with man. They maybe, and doubtless are, instruments 
through which one mind imparts intelligence to another; but 
they, in and of themselves, are not mind, and cannot think nor 
act intelligently. Let the most powerful embodied mesmerizer 
which the world contains try his will upon the in=r hair, 

and will the chair move of his bidding ? No, not the fraction of 
an inch. Charge the chair, even encased in glass or coated with 
sealing- wax. — charge it with all the magnetism, electricity, and 
odyllic fluid imaginable, and will they all generate in it or convey 
into it mind enough to understand and to answer : on ? 

No. obviously no. You know that if an embodied mesmerizer 
should will the chair to move, and keep on willing it to move for 
hours, that it would not stir an inch, unless he applied his hand 
to it. His wiil-power controls only living organism. You know, 
too, that neither magnetism, electricity, nor odyle could be made 
to give or to generate a mind in the chair ; yet its motions proved 
that mind was there. Common-sense demands the admission of 

But mind needs tools or organs when it ghrefl inteDi| 
m:"-^r:;TL:: :: :■:...— z~. ^ v. = ".-ily inf.. :: t~~::t ; ~:::z :t=t_: 
through the eyes, the face, the tongue, the hand. The acting 
mind surely needed a hand, or something with the powers of a 
hand, to move that chair. So also did one angel to will away the 
stone, and the other angel to unlock the prison door. Something 



228 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

with the powers of a hand was needed in each case. Perhaps a 
hand was there. Spirits profess to have power under favorable 
circumstances to gather up and use some (to us) invisible emana- 
tions from the bodies of our mediums, and elements from the 
atmosphere in some localities, and to combine these with certain 
properties inherent in themselves, and from these materials to 
construct hands, arms, etc., varying in size according to their own 
inherent powers and the qualities of the foreign materials used ; 
they profess to be able to form hands, arms, etc., varying in 
strength from those of a feeble infant up to those of a veritable 
Samson. [This was doubtless written before the materializing 
phase of mediumship had been developed to any extent, or at 
least before it came to the knowledge of the writer.] When such 
tools have been constructed, the invisible ones work out by aid of 
them results which man can see and hear and feel. Then raps 
and tips are heard and seen; then the low things become high. 

Many tell us that Spiritualism is nothing but mesmerism. Of 
course, such a statement admits that it is as much as mesmerism ; 
that it is, in fact, the same thing; Thanks for this concession ; 
because mesmerism, if permitted to mature, may ripen into Spir- 
itualism. One tree, like the orange, often shows flowers and 
green fruit and ripe at the same time. Much that is supposed to 
be only mesmerism is, in fact, Spiritualism ; also, much of what 
is regarded as Spiritualism is only mesmerism. Often, when man 
magnetizes, he puts his subject into such a state that some spirit 
quietly slips in and works there, and yet the spirit's presence is 
not suspected. At such times an angel is entertained unawares. 
Spiritualism is then under the name of mesmerism. On the other 
hand, our spirit mediums often get mesmerized by the company 
present, so as to become clairvoyant and clairaudient. The in- 
ternal or spirit eyes and ears of the mediums get opened by the 
undesigned, unwilled Sowings of human magnetism to or from 
those around them. Their words may report to us spirit utter- 
ances and describe spirits and spirit scenes, and yet the real speak- 
ers may be only entranced mortals, listening to the voices above, 
and looking into homes of the ascended. There may be a pure 
mesmerism which opens a way for mortals to see and hear the 
departed. What then is a distinction between mesmerism and 
Spiritualism ? 

Mesmerism is something which a man does while he has his 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 229 

clothes on. Spiritualism is a similar act of his after his clothes 
have been put off. Suppose I magnetize you to-day, and that I, 
the mesmerizer, speak, write, act through you, you being uncon- 
scious : this is mesmerism. Suppose further, that I die to-night, 
and that to-morrow I, a spirit, come and magnetize you, and then 
speak, write, act through you : this is Spiritualism. Here we 
have the same operator working upon and through the same sub- 
ject, the only difference being that to-day I, the operator, am in 
the body, having my clothes on, while to-morrow I am to be out 
of the body, or to have my clothes off. Such is the only essential 
difference between mesmerism and Spiritualism in some of its 
forms. If man's powers are not diminished by the death of his 
body, then some spirits can mesmerize susceptible subjects. No 
increase of power is needed, no miracle is wanted. Mesmerism 
and Spiritualism may differ no more than the green fruit and the 
ripe on the same tree. They are nourished through the same 
roots, the same trunk; one ripens into the other. Those who are 
so inclined may pluck all the oranges from their own trees while 
the fruit is yet green ; but I beg of them to leave mine upon the 
branches, and when an orange there shall have become fully ripe, 
I trust they will not dissuade me from eating it, by alleging that 
their own green ones have never tasted good. Spirits, then, often 
have to perform the difficult and uncertain process of inducing a 
full mesmeric sleep before they can manage the hand of the flesh. 
Several persons, who are susceptible to both the mesmeric and the 
spirit influence, have told me that when the controlling fluid 
comes to them from one in the body, they feel it flowing in hori- 
zontally and entering mostly about the region of the eyes; but 
when it comes from the spirits, the stream is vertical and enters 
through the spiritual organs on the crown of the head. That 
the process of mesmerizing and of spiritualizing a subject are 
very similar, might be argued from the fact that both succeed 
best under like circumstances. Both are most easily performed 
where all minds are quiet and passive ; both ask for good air and 
an harmonious circle ; and both generally succeed best with the 
same organism and temperaments ; in other words, in most cases, 
but not in all, good spirit mediums can be easily magnetized. 
The difference, then, between mesmerism and Spiritualism in 
some of its forms is not enough to let us regard them as generic- 
ally different. 



230 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

If any spirit can visit earth and work here, why cannot all oth- 
ers ? If my spirit friend can communicate through a stranger, 
why can he not do the same through me ? Why cannot all spir- 
its come ? Why are not all persons mediums ? Such questions 
have come up in every mind. You hear said, If spirits come, 
why do they not come to and through me ? Probably they are 
hindered by natural obstacles, inherent in either them or yourself. 
How is it in mesmerism ? There are but few successful magne- 
tizers, but few facile subjects. Mr. can very easily magne- 
tize several of my acquaintances and friends, but he can produce 
no effect upon me. Why this difference ? Feed two oxen alike 
for years, and then bring them to the shambles. You may find 
the meat of one tender and juicy, that of the other tough and 
dry. One man has fine and soft hair, while another's is coarse 
and hard. Why so ? Who can tell me why ? The facts are ob- 
vious, but the reasons for them cannot be given. We can only 
say such are the results of God's modes of working. Now, then, 
if in our fibres and fluids and emanations we differ one from an- 
other, why may. not some of us be very susceptible to certain 
influences which others cannot feel at all ? Why may not some 
impart much more easily and powerfully than others? Till the 
mesmerist can magnetize any one person just as easily and as 
thoroughly as he can any other, why expect that spirits can ? 
Till all men are efficient magnetizers, why think that all spirits 
can be ? Till all men are facile subjects for the embodied mag- 
netizer, why suppose that they can be for a disembodied one ? 
The hidden reasons which exist in the one case ought, as we view 
these subjects, to exist also in the other. We believe that they do. 
Beyond a certain point mesmerism fails to furnish illustration of 
Spiritualism. 

The clear-sighted logician will see, I think, that, from the point 
now reached, a direct path extends on to the seers of Prevost, 
to Swedenborg, to Scottish seers, to Joan of Arc, to Mahomet, to 
Roman augurs, Grecian priestesses, and all who have given their 
contemporaries assurances that they saw spirit forms and con- 
versed with the departed, or with angels. The prophets, seers, 
and magicians of all ages and nations may have been all that they 
claimed to be, and yet have been only mesmeric subjects and 
spirit mediums. This view starts the inquiry, whether any of the 
Scripture miracles were the acts of unseen finite intelligences, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 231 

using their normal powers in submission to fixed laws. The 
question is legitimate and proper. And it gives me pleasure to 
make an affirmative answer, for, in doing that, I behold a God so 
perfect that his wisdom and power were, from the beginning, 
competent to devise such laws as should, without violation, with- 
out suspension, admit under and in obedience to themselves all 
the light and all the angel visitations which his children on earth 
might ever need. When man shall see and feel that heaven's 
inhabitants may come to earth by natural processes, and work 
among us just according to their several abilities and characters, 
then the greatest difficulties of philosophical faith in the Bible 
as a record of teachings from on high will melt away, and the 
wisdom of God himself will appear to us more complete. 

Our whole train of remark implies the supposition, that refined 
electricity, magnetism, odyle, or some unknown but yet eternal 
and universal fluid has been an essential instrument in all parts 
of spirit communication, as well in Judaea as in other lands. It 
implies, too, that this instrument can never have been wanting in 
any age. Why, then, have angel visits been so ' few and far be- 
tween ' ? We need not answer a query like this because of any 
bearing it may have upon the question whether spirits come now. 
That ocean and those winds had always existed which bore Colum- 
bus to the New World, but the question why Europeans had so 
seldom, if ever, reached America before, could not invalidate the 
fact that Columbus himself had reached it. If it be proved that 
spirits come now, the infrequency of their visits heretofore will 
not disprove the fact. Still the question, why they should come 
so much more frequently and generally now than in former times, 
is a very natural and proper one, and is worthy of the best an- 
swer we can give. That answer, however, will have little weight 
with any but those who are already prepared to give some cre- 
dence when statements are backed by no authority beyond that of 
utterances through spirit mediums. Is it impossible that modes 
and means of using the subtile fluids in man and nature are bet- 
ter understood even by the spirits now than they were in ages 
past ? Can the departed continue to make advances in scientific 
and practical knowledge ? Who among us can tell ? Electricity 
and magnetism have always existed ; yet it was but quite recently 
that man became acquainted with their extent and nature, and 
that he learned how to subject them in any degree to his control ; 



232 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

still more recent did he invent the telegraph. Man, by his dis- 
coveries in electricity and steam within the last half -century, has 
become able to convey his thoughts and his person much more 
widely, speedily, and definitely to people and places on the earth 
now than he could before. Possibly spirits may have made recent 
discoveries and inventions, by which they can come to us more 
easily, speedily, and definitely, and make themselves more dis- 
tinctly felt and better understood by us than formerly." 

We would here suggest that the late developments of this phil- 
osophical, psychical science have displayed phases of spiritual 
phenomena unprecedented in the annals of history. For exam- 
ple: — 

" The most splendid and perfect oil-pictures of deceased chil- 
dren and friends are often produced in less than an hour by me- 
diums who knew nothing of them, — entire strangers, — to the 
unbounded delight and joy of living parents and friends." 

The art of spirit photography, as many of you are doubtless 
aware, is undeniably established. An artist with whom I con- 
versed upon the subject, showed me a pencilled sketch, large size, 
of a child, which he said only occupied him seventeen minutes ; 
he was not a professional artist, and could only work while under 
spiritual influence ; furthermore, the spirits who controlled him 
were unwilling he should study the art on mundane principles. 

" This new science of psychometry deserves more than a passing 
notice. Prof. Hitchcock, in his well-known book, ' The Eeligion 
of Geology/ speaking of the influence of light upon bodies, and of 
the formation of pictures upon them by means of it, says: 'It 
seems, then, that this photographic influence pervades all nature, 
nor can we say where it stops. We do not know but it may im- 
print upon the world around us our pictures, as they are modified 
by various passions, and thus fill nature with daguerreotype im- 
pressions of all our actions that are performed in daylight. It 
may be, too, that there are tests by which nature, more skilful 
than any human photographer, can bring out and fix these por- 
traits, so that acuter senses than ours shall see them as on a great 
canvas spread on the material universe. Perhaps, too, they may 
never fade from that canvas, but become specimens in the great 
picture gallery of eternity/ 

Our Dr. Denton, and his wife Elizabeth, — that they are Amer- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 233 

icans need scarcely be said, — have just published a book, 'The 
Soul of Things ; or, Psychometric Researches and Discoveries/ in 
which they assert that what Prof. Hitchcock' thus says c perhaps 
may be/ really is. They say that radiant faces are passing from 
all objects to all objects, every moment of time, and photograph- 
ing the appearances of each upon the other, every action, every 
movement, being thus infallibly registered for coming ages. ' The 
pane of glass in the window, the brick in the wall, and the paving- 
stone in the streets, catch the pictures of all passers-by, and care- 
fully preserve them. Not a leaf waves, not an insect crawls, but 
each motion is recorded by a thousand faithful scribes, in infallible 
and indelible scriptures.' This having always been so, there is 
thus stored up in nature the most faithful memorials of the en- 
tire past, — of the early world and tides of liquid fire ; its rushing 
floods and steaming vapors ; of every plant, from the club-moss 
to the tree-fern ; of every animal, from the polyp to the pachy- 
derm ; and of every tribe, and nation, and race of man. All have 
set for their portraits, and ' thence the portraits all are faithfully 
daguerreotyped in this divine picture gallery for all time/ And 
it is not sights alone that are registered, but sounds as well. 
Nature is not only a picture gallery, but a whispering gallery, too. 
As no scene is ever effaced, so no sound ever dies out. ' The 
lullaby sung by our cradle, the patter of the rain upon the roof, 
the sighing of the winds, the roll of the thunder, the dash of fall- 
ing waters, the murmur of affection, the oath of the inebriate, the 
hymn at the church, the song at the concert, the words of wisdom 
and folly, the whisper of love, all are faithfully registered.' ' All 
sounds record themselves on all objects within their influence/ 
and these phonotypes, as they may be termed, are almost, if not 
entirely, as enduring as the objects themselves.' Neither the 
* phonotypes ' nor the ' portraits ' may be brought out, or ' devel- 
oped/ by any known chemical application, but in some individuals 
the brain is sufficiently sensitive to perceive them when it is 
brought into proximity with the objects on which they are im- 
pressed.' Persons thus sensitive are called ' psychometers/ and of 
the sights which such persons have seen, and of the sounds which 
they have heard, when exercising their peculiar faculty, this book 
sets forth one hundred and fourteen instances, all of which are, 
indeed, ' wonderful/ if true. A piece of brick or stone from an 
ancient city has enabled them to see and hear all that was ever 



234 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

done or uttered in its vicinity; a piece of fossil animal has 
taken them back to the world in which that animal lived, and 
moved, and had its being, and enabled them to observe minutely 
its physical condition, and all characteristics alike of its vegetable 
productions and of its brute inhabitants; a bit of granite has 
made them spectators of the primeval chaos, amid whose throes 
the mountain whence it was taken had its birth, and a fragment 
of an aerolite has given them wings on which to travel through 
the limitless fields of space. It is obvious that, if ' psychometry ' 
be true, nature will no longer have ' mysteries,' nor history < se- 
crets ' ; we shall no longer be puzzled by theories as to the origin 
of the antiquity of man, or as to the methods by which the infi- 
nite variety of complicated results which we see in the three king- 
doms of nature have been produced. All the processes which are 
going on, or ever have gone on, in nature, will be unveiled to the 
gaze of the ' psychometer/ and all that men, in any age or coun- 
try, have said or done, will be similarly present to his eye and ear. 
So far the latest development of American psychology. Well 
may we ask Mr. Cobden's question, ' What next, and next ? ' " 

Of Rev. T. L. Harris, author of " Lyric of the Golden Age," — 
a poem about the size of Milton's " Paradise Lost," which was 
composed and dictated in ninety-four hours, and is said to pos- 
sess more than Miltonic grandeur and sublimity, — " it is alleged 
that when spirits enter his sphere, they become visible to others ; 
that persons of refined habits and acute sensation both see and 
hear them; that the spirits are able to cause atmospheric undula- 
tions, and to produce the most delicate chemical combinations 
and sensational impressions, all made manifest to the outer senses 
of men, by distinct vibrations, concussions, vocal and instrumen- 
tal music, and also by the diffusion of delightful aromas, like the 
perfume of jessamine flowers, etc., through the common atmos- 
phere, which is not intrinsically improbable, since all the simple 
elements of which the aromas consist are everywhere diffused in 
the atmosphere, and it needs but the subtile chemism of the spirit 
to so combine them as to render their presence manifest to the 
senses ; was called upon in December, 1852, by Mrs. 0., in the 
hope of obtaining some evidence of immortality which might af- 
ford her the consolation she needed in a season of deep affliction. 
Her husband had departed this life, and her spirit yearned for 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 235 

the assurance that life was renewed, and life immortal beyond the 
grave. Mr. Harris knew nothing of his history, and had no exter- 
nal perception of the object of her visit, but becoming entranced 
in her presence, all was revealed to him. He informed the lady 
that her husband was an United States officer, described his men- 
tal and physical peculiarities, his dress, a scar on his face, and 
said that he carried a repeater watch, and was in the frequent 
habit of applying it to his ear and striking the hour. The father 
of Mrs. C, an eminent divine, was also described on the occasion, 
and the lady declared that the delineations were in every essential 
particular true to nature and the facts. 

During the same month another interesting illustration of the 
author's (Harris) mediumship occurred. A professional gentle- 
man at the South was invited to hear Mr. Harris lecture on Spirit- 
ualism, but declined, having no faith in the alleged manifestations 
from spirits. On being requested to make a personal visit to Mr. 
H., he consented, at the same time affirming that no spirit could 
reveal the facts in the life of the person that purported to communi- 
cate, in such a manner as to insure identification, as all the 
phenomena were mere psychological hallucinations, which he him- 
self could produce at pleasure; this gentleman was accordingly 
introduced to Mr. Harris, and after a brief interview, the latter 
being under the magnetic influence of some spirit, retired to his 
interior plane of observation ; the visitor was informed that the 
spirit of a young female attended him as a guardian : her personal 
appearance, costume, and other things connected with the life on 
earth, were described : the relation which had previously existed 
between the gentleman and his spirit guardian was intimated : 
the nature of her life, and circumstances of her death, were re- 
ferred to; the spirit also gave him an impressive communication, 
indicating her condition in the spirit world, the habits of her 
earthly friend, and concluded by admonishing him to reform. 
At the close of this interview the gentleman went away, but not 
long after called on Mr. Harris again, and related the story of the 
life and death of the young girl whose spirit had so unexpectedly 
addressed him, affirming at the same time that he was fully sat- 
isfied of the truth of Spiritualism, from the astonishing accuracy 
of the disclosures made through Mr. H. ; the gentleman also ex- 
pressed his conviction, that the medium could not have derived 
his impressions by psychological process from his own mind, and 



236 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

this was rendered evident to him, from the statement of an im- 
portant fact respecting the spirit, which until that hour was nei- 
ther known nor conceived of by himself ; since the first interview, 
a personal investigation had fully established in his mind the 
truth of the statement." 

"But you may ask if this Spiritualism be true, this philosophy 
of God, why was it not discovered and promulgated sooner ? Why 
is it that man has lived six thousand years in ignorance of this 
great truth ? In answer I ask, why is it that electricity has not 
been known until now ? why its discovery so neoteric ? The light- 
ning through which we communicate, and which speaks for us, 
is the same lightnimg that flashed o'er Grecian glory, or Eoman 
ruin, ay, that played upon the peaks of Sinai. Science had not 
then shed its scintillations in the mind of Moses, Servius, or Ly- 
curgus ; nor is it a gratuity of nature, or gift of Providence : it 
has to be learned, culled, collected, collated, and appropriated, by 
our honest efforts, from which we may weave the philosophy of 
our life ; like our daily bread and the glittering jewel, it is by 
honest effort alone that truth is evolved, and our progression de- 
veloped. As your religion of faith professes to have been heralded 
by a grand providential specialty, and could, of course, have been 
thus promulgated early, as well as late, why was it not heralded 
with the birth of man ? and why its evulgation so imperfect in 
extent as well as time ? But man has to labor for the bread of 
his body, and so he has to labor for the philosophy of his life : 
and this is his true religion. 

You may again object, that these new revelations abound in 
platitudes, inconsistencies, and contradictions. Granted : but does 
not your old Eevelation still more abound in absurdities, incon- 
sistencies, and contradictions, as I have already shown ? Your 
Great Master tells you in one breath, to ' seek your salvation ' ; 
and in the next, ' he that seeks to save his 'life shall lose it.' My 
religion of philosophy explains these discrepancies, and thus can 
reconcile the contradictions, or their causes, of your master Jesus 
Christ, as when your Bible says, i believe not every spirit/ etc. ; 
but your religion of faith cannot explain them, and they must 
consequently forever remain irreconcilable, and believed by none 
but those who have no eyes, and follow faith through fear and 
feeling ; and through this feeling of fear, many pretend to ridi- 
cule the religion of philosophy, because their religion of faith 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 237 

holds oyer their heads, in terrorem, a devil and damnation ; for 
does it not tell them, if they believe anything else, they believe a 
lie, and shall be damned ? We carry no such scorpion lash of ter- 
ror for the timid : philosophy has no horrors for the honest, en- 
lightened, and true. 

You remember, I brought the history of unknown spirit inter- 
course of the past down to the present generation; here, now, I 
again take it up for a moment, to glance at the living age. Spirit 
intercourse and its true philosophy are now known and believed 
in, by many millions of the present generation. We will give a 
few distinguished names, as you perceive I illustrate and prove as 
I go. Hon. N. P. Talmadge, ex-governor of New York, and for- 
merly United States Senator ; Judge Edmonds, who served in the 
Senate of New York and was a judge in its Supreme Court, who 
as certainly and consciously holds daily intercourse with his ex- 
carnated as with his incarnated friends [and who, since the fore- 
going, has passed to spirit life, and given his earthly friends un- 
mistakable evidences of his immortality. I had the pleasure, in 
November, 1875, of listening to an eloquent discourse delivered 
in New York by Mrs. Tappan, purporting to come from him. It 
may not be amiss, to here state that Horace Greeley was also a 
believer in this philosophy, as was Abraham Lincoln, who is said 
to have held frequent intercourse with the spirit world, in his own 
home circle] ; Professor Hare, one of the most profound and sci- 
entific men the world has ever produced, and member of various 
learned societies, who, being a materialist, and unbeliever in im- 
mortality, invented an ingenious contrivance, with which to dis- 
prove and refute the so-called spirit manifestations, but which con- 
verted him, and proved its truth, thus making him a happy man, 
with certain prospect of immortal life, without the shadow of in- 
certitude ; and Brittan, Tiffany, Harris, Dexter, Ferguson, New- 
ton, the venerable Dods, who wrote a book to show that all the 
phenomena of spirit intercourse were nothing more nor less than 
the illusions of his favorite electrical psychology, but was finally 
forced, by demonstrative evidence, to renounce his specious the- 
ory, and embrace the fact of spirit existence and spirit intercourse ; 
and a host of others in talents as well as numbers, representative 
men of the world, lawyers, doctors, divines of eminence in Amer- 
ica, beside many of the most learned in England, France, Ger- 
many, etc., among whom, I believe, are Lord Brougham, Louis, 



238 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Napoleon, etc., securely and serenely moored in this glorious haven 
opened up by modern science. Jew and Gentile, Christian, infi- 
del and Pagan, Moslem and Giaour, and all creeds, alike may 
come within the purview of this glorious evangel, and all earth's 
children may come and lay their various offerings on this univer- 
sal altar of philosophy." 

"We will next give some extracts from " Plain Guide to Spirit- 
ualism," by Uriah Clark : — 

"For more than a quarter of a century the Christian Church and 
press were filled with prayers and predictions that God would 
open the heavens anew, that the Holy Ghost would come down 
with power, that Jesus Christ would descend in glory and majesty, 
that angel armies would marshal themselves for fresh battles with 
earth and hell, that some mighty manifestation would be made 
from the skies, to flood earth with overwhelming showers and 
flame, like tongues of fire, and thunder with vibrations to quake 
the dead souls of the apathetic masses, and jar from their centre 
the very walls and foundations where multitudes congregated. 
But the very first, faint sound, coming in response to these 
prayers and predictions, sent terror into the heart of modern 
Christendom. While in the very act of praying and predicting 
that some celestial manifestations of power and majesty might be 
made, lo, a feeble sound was heard on the altar floor, or pulpit 
case, and priest and people were seized with alarm ; they turn 
pale with affright ; their prayers shake them, and they take them 
back ; they pray God to forgive them, for asking more than they 
were prepared to receive ; Catholics cross themselves, and Protest- 
ants beg to be absolved ; through the blue goggles of their dog- 
mas, they see ' hydras, gorgons, chimeras dire/ pale phantoms of 
alarm, shrieking ghosts, wandering wild in the midnight air, and 
weird hags, like those mumbling in Macbeth ; and they cry out, 
'Delusion, Beelzebub ! Back, demons damned, ye legioned throngs 
clothed in the alluring light of the spheres.' 

Practical Spiritualism is summed up in one word, — love ; love 
to God manifest in love to humanity. While Spiritualists seek 
no central creed, no fixed platform of intellectual opinion, no rigid 
system of theology, binding the conscience and trammelling free- 
dom, they are united in one grand, central element of fraternal 
love, encircling the family of earth and heaven. We can all agree, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 239 

without controversy, in regard to this central principle, for there 
is one common chord of benevolence running through the great 
heart of humanity, which needs only to be touched aright, to vi- 
brate in harmony with the angel world. But men may quarrel 
everlastingly about abstract creeds, and systems addressed to the 
head alone, without coming to any uniform opinion, while their 
hearts are rent with discord, or left cold, desolate, untouched. 
The religious world, for ages, has endeavored to unite in creeds 
and forms to save humanity, but with what lamentable results ! 
It has not saved even itself, and to-day the churches are found 
waning and powerless ; and while they are contending over the 
' dry bones ' of old faith and formulas past all resurrection, mill- 
ions of the ignorant, erring, fallen, and unbelieving are left to 
pine and perish outside the pale of redemption. 

In this emergency Spiritualism makes its advent. It is scouted 
by sectarians and would-be philosophers, because it begins with 
no rigid system or creed, but leaves each individual conscience 
and intellect free to seek and decide for itself, while it first aims 
to reach the heart and awaken those divine religious affections 
paramount over every other department of human nature. We 
thank God and the angel world that Spiritualism comes as a re- 
ligion of the affections. It embraces all science, philosophy, rea- 
son, intellect ; but its angel hands reach down through all these 
and first seek to lay hold of the slumbering chords of the human 
heart. ' He that loveth is born of God and knoweth God ; for God 
is love/ 

John goes on to say, in substance, that divine love was manifest 
in Jesus ; that men may know whether they have this love by the 
spiritual witness within them; that no man can love God without 
loving his brother man. Eecognizing God as the Father Spirit of 
all souls, whose essence is love, every spirit or angel commissioned 
of God to visit humanity must come on errands of love, and is a 
manifestation of the Christ-principle, the Holy Ghost, or the 
Holy Host of heaven, whether that spirit or angel be one of the 
departed saints of sacred history or a little child just gone from 
the humblest home below. There is no small or great in the 
spiritual kingdom now being inaugurated on earth, no high or 
low, no rich or poor, but all are one in the fellowship of love en- 
girting the universe. Could we take some lofty standpoint in the 
spirit world, and gaze down through all the transient grades and 



240 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

conditions of humanity, seeing as angels see, we should discover 
one central element of love more or less pervading all souls, and 
learn that most of the evils, errors, and differences existing among 
the millions below were less than our false judgment had appre- 
hended, while every being would reveal a germ of divinity destined 
to mount and burn with glory among the celestial hosts of eternal 
progress. The rapidity with which manifestations have spread, 
and the avidity with which they are believed, together with the 
fact that all past ages have demonstrated something similar, sug- 
gest to us that man has a spiritual nature which cannot be satis- 
fied without a belief in Spiritualism. This belief expands his 
soul with all the great hopes and aspirations which leap beyond 
the skies, and is the citadel on which he stands when all other 
foundations are swept away on the winds and waves of time. 
Without a consciousness of something within him which shall 
survive the mutations of time, something allied to God, another 
realm of higher intelligences, what were this life to the suffering 
millions ? And it is to this consciousness we must appeal, if we 
would have Spiritualism reach the hearts of the people. You go 
to your sceptical brother and tell him of the wonderful manifes- 
tations you have seen and which he may see ; but perhaps he 
treats your story with levity. But you then appeal to his own 
interior nature ; you ask if he has not some hopes, some desires, 
some affections which reach beyond the grave ; if some dear one 
has not gone before him, with whom he would like to commune, 
and if he would not feel happier and better to know all this. 
And he will cease his levity, and perchance, while his bosom 
heaves, a tear will steal into his eyes; and he will turn away, re- 
solved to seek for light, and to search his own soul. 0, could we 
but touch the right chord in the hearts of our brothers and sis- 
ters, we should no longer suffer their raillery, but feel their hands 
grasped in warm fellowship, and see their faces wet with streams 
of joy and love ! The dull multitudes plodding along life as 
though there were naught to do but eat, drink, and die, are star- 
tled with new views of the mission of man, and begin to feel 
there is a divinity within allied to God, and destined to walk eter- 
nity in the companionship of angels. The poor, the lowly, the 
lost are lifted up in communion with worlds and beings of kingly 
glory and grandeur, and no longer feel they are the reprobates of 
God and the offcasts of creation. The gospel equalizes all grades 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 241 

and conditions in one band of fraternity, and makes the rich and 
the poor sit down together as common guests at the board around 
which angels minister celestial messages. No lines are drawn in 
the kingdom of spiritual love and truth. The opening heavens 
shine down as brightly through the lowly hamlets and dingy dun- 
geons, as on gilded palaces and proud spires piercing the clouds ; 
and with noiseless flight the spirit bands wing their way down 
over the wide plains of humanity, whispering the music of the 
spheres to attune our souls in harmony with the sons of God, 
shouting their anthems amid the melody of the morning stars of 
primeval creation. And they come with light to shine along the 
darkest path of life, and with beacons to point .our way over the 
billows which shall soon waft our spirits whither the generations 
of the past have gone before us. No Sinai shall quake, no Olym- 
pus shall thunder, no Jerusalem shall be clothed in the tragic 
drapery of Calvary, no war gods shall rattle their fiery chariots 
over continents deluged in blood, no dogmas of human terror, 
like volcanic flames, shall heave forth edicts of damnation on trem- 
bling millions ; but the mountain-tops of the century shall gleam 
with the sunlight of angel faces, and echo the harmonic songs of 
the empyrean. Tidings already break from the myriad lips of the 
beloved and beautiful bending with benedictions over the hearts 
and homes of humanity. Fear not ! Hells may clang with 
alarms, and millions turn pale amid revolutions threatening 
thrones and republics, but the guardians of the eternal sit calm 
in the council chambers of heaven, and over the turbulent sea of 
human discord breathe the air and pour the oil of celestial har- 
mony. Sit calm in the temple of thine own soul amid the din 
and jar of the outer world, and thou shalt hear cadences echoing 
down from the grand anthem evermore sounding through the 
corridors of the upper world. Scenes shall soon unfold to human 
vision transcending what olden seers and sages longed to behold. 
Millions of mortals shall bathe in the coming Pentecost of ages. 
Arise, priests, rulers, and people, arise ! Gird on your sandals 
anew, and catch the mantles of the ascended as they come back 
in chariots of lightning with the flames of living inspiration. 
Dash each tear from thine eye, stifle each fear, fling thy sighs to 
the winds, walk forth with the tread of a god in thy footstep, 
fighting life's battles side by side with that celestial army ' whose 
white tents are already struck for the morning march of eternity.' 



242 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! The council chambers of 
the eternal world stand open, and the congresses of celestial em- 
pires are seeking to guide the destiny of nations. The ascended 
saints, sages, and patriots of America, the heroes and victors of 
battle-fields once red with blood, and glorious with the trophies 
of freedom, and all the armies bearing palms on the plains of 
immortal life, now bend with wisdom over the conflict rending 
your continent, bidding you still remember the brotherhood of 
the race ; and above the clamor of belligerent hosts, the clash of 
arms and thunder of artillery, listen once more to angel anthems 
of peace and good-will." 

We will again quote from the earnest and eloquent Rem- 
bert : — 

" We should strive for improvement, moral, mental, physical, 
and be kind, charitable, and sympathetic with each other, crush- 
ing every impulse of anger and cherishing every impulse of love ; 
knowing that we all here inherit the same or equal frailties, and 
that others too have their wrongs, which are parts of our patri- 
mony we cannot help, nor the Creator himself avoid, but which 
will all be ultimately purged off under his great law of progres- 
sion ; that those we hear of as so great and good become less so 
as intimate acquaintance discloses weakness and bad traits ; and 
also those reputed as weak and bad improve as acquaintance dis- 
covers traits of goodness and mentality ; in short, that none are 
so good and so great, or so bad and so simple, as we hear ; that in- 
tercourse tends to equalize, as also all knowledge and progression; 
that the bubble of popular reputation floats with fortuities and 
is quickened and sustained by adventitious circumstances ; and 
that we shall yet all meet in realms unfringed with wrong, where 
we shall truly know each other by an unerring aromal emanation, 
or electric radiation, or magnetic effluxion, for mind will then 
act upon and perceive mind direct, unencumbered with gross in- 
tervening animal sensoria. And the anguish of parting from a 
loved friend, — 0, this is the bitterest word of my language, the 
bitterest moment of my life, — parting, parting from my loved 
forever ! 

Great God ! who can stand it ? No, thanks to His philosophy 
of our life ; but for a few fleeting moments, mere dewdrops of 
time to the vast ocean of eternity, in which we will all meet and 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 243 

live in love when parting shall be known no more. Eor this, 
Great Architect of creation's temple, I would send a shout of 
gratitude and glory to ring and echo along thy grand aisles and 
corridors through, all the eternal world ! 

■ Congenial spirits part to meet again.' 

Did Campbell comprehend the glorious truth he thus enunciated 
in his mellifluent verse? Yes, to meet again, to meet again! 
friends forever ! 0, the heavenly hallelujahs that reverberate 
along the vaulted spheres and peopled worlds, and echo from all 
the orbs of light that spangle this vast vault around us, teeming 
with intelligence imparadised in eternity. Not an ecclesiastical 
Jubilate Deo for ' the plan of salvation,' which is but a more 
pleasing term for the plan of damnation; but a grand gush of 
gratitude that swells the symphonies of all His immortal crea- 
tions for the glorious plan of progression that leads us to the 
radiant realms of His own glory, the glory of universal and im- 
mortal love. 

And yet this sublime science that thus traces our origin, and 
opens the portals of our glorious destiny of reunion, and gives us 
the cream of our conduct and daily happiness, is assailed and op- 
posed with energy and malignity; this opposition consists of two 
classes and motives : those who really and ardently desire and be- 
lieve it to be true, and fearing the wish is father to the thought, 
oppose it, with the sole view of eliciting more light, in order to 
have all their doubts dispelled to their entire satisfaction ; and 
those who do not desire it to be true, or to be accepted, because it 
will wofully interfere with the fleshpots that keep fat on their 
dogmas : it is this class that evince such malignity. As for the 
many articles published in the hebdomadel press of the day, cast- 
ing odium or derision on spiritual mediums, many of whom also 
deserve it, it is generally done to please the people, and pander 
to their ignorant prejudices, and thus promote the popularity of 
the paper: often at. the expense and sacrifice of truth. I know 
editors who do this, and secretly laugh at the ignorance of their 
readers, and who believe in the truth and the science, and admire 
the grandeur of the philosophy; and so they praise a popular 
man with prestige and position, whom they heartily hate ; they 
lack the nerve to stem the popular current, which it is the duty 



244 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

of every journalist to direct, and not float with it. There is an- 
other class who are totally indifferent, and are actuated by two 
different motives : first, because they have no higher aspirations 
than the prosperity of their potato-patch, or cotton-field, counter, 
or card-table ; second, those that have immortal longings, but fear 
'it is too good to be true/ and being cold and calculating them- 
selves, they feel safe if it is true, and, if not true had better stick 
to old faith as the safer course, ugly as it is ; thus governed 
alone by the selfish impulse of fear, with no feeling of philanthro- 
py to proclaim the glorious truth to their fellow-men. Swine will 
never exchange a wallow for a parlor, there it was raised, and 
there it will remain ; nor would the ignorant herd of biped genus 
homo exchange their finical parlors of animal gab and gossip for 
the cerebral halls of intellectual immortalities : there they were 
reared, and there they would remain. Enough of this : I 'm sorry 
for human nature. I cannot withhold this healing balm to the 
bleeding hearts of my friends, this ineffable comfort for the sor- 
rowing souls of those who can appreciate it, when by a little effort 
it is within my power to impart it ; for even if it be false, we are 
thus made happy here, and shall never wake up hereafter to know 
or realize its falsity. As for the interminable hell that old ortho- 
doxy would have catch me, for thus proclaiming this happy philos- 
ophy, I spurn the degrading idea, that I should for a moment 
invest the character of my Creator with the diabolic cruelty of 
thus punishing me forever for not believing in this very diabolism, 
or for believing in a philosophy that, while it gives a glory to Him, 
also gives happiness to me. The fear of this interminable hell 
has crazed many a weak brain, and is n't it enough ? and poured 
bitterness in the fountains of many a life-stream on earth. Many 
a pitied parent has poured out a life in sorrow over the premature 
death of an adult unconverted child ; what would heaven be, what 
could it be, to such a parent, with such a child, in such a hell ? 
Let not this dread chimera disturb you, my friends : do right 
and feae nothing ; our God never made His children to be vic- 
tims of fear, nor stamped eternity on misery ; nor do his works 
tend downwards : and if your wicked child reach Gehenna, he will 
soon be lifted hence, and by the help of your own hands ; so cheer 
thee, bleeding mother, devoted father ! thy loved child is not lost, 
nor can le, while God and His philosophy endure. We shall all 
soon fall into the embraces of a sweet sleep, and serene slumber, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 245 

from which nothing will ever disturb us ; or we shall wake up to 
meet our friends again, in higher and happier realms of life and 
love. And let us fear not that this incessant stream from God's 
vast empire of life, forever pouring into those higher spheres, will 
at some period in future eternity, howsoever remote, ultimately 
fill them beyond capacity for more : for be it remembered, His 
infinity of domain is equal to His eternity of duration : one is 
coextensive with the other, and both illimitable. And though we 
follow science as the footsteps of G-od, and would analyze the 
higher heavens, and anatomize archangel life, and analyze the 
deep arcana of all hereafter, we yet must know that mystery and 
wonder will ever rise above and hover around our heads, as the 
sunlight dazzles our physical eyes. This is enough for the philo- 
sophic mind : if 



1 An angel's arm can't snatch us from the tomb, 
Legions of angels can't confine us there ' ; 

* Night dews fall not more gently to the ground, 
Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft.' 

1 Is it his death -bed? No, it is his shrine ; 
Behold him, there, just rising to a god.' 

"T is the last pang, he calmly said ; 
To me, O death! thou hast no dread, — 

Father, I come ! 
Spread but thine arms on yonder shore — . 
I see! ye waters bear me o'er ; 

There is my home ! ' 



Now, to men of science, those philosophical minds who float 
with fate and drift with destiny, seeing no certain light, but un- 
certain hope, whose faint effulgence only leads their ardent aspira- 
tions to disappointment and despair ; to the rationalistic infidel 
and scientific naturalist, I would specially address myself, and 
with the deepest sympathies of my soul. You are free from par- 
tiality and prejudice, untrammelled with sects and sectaries, un- 
tinged with sacramental symbols, above the narrow bounds of 
bigotry, and seek truth, free, untarnished truth, as it beams 
from the burnished throne through all the works of nature's 



246 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

grand economy. I give yon cordial greeting on this splendid 
tribune of truth, where science gathers her jewels, and from her 
starry wings sheds them on her votaries. You are disgusted with 
human nature, sick of the world and its ways, and turn from the 
follies brought on the new philosophy by human weakness and 
depravity. We should not wonder at the huge humbuggery 
and charlatanism, the jugglers and tricksters that have gathered 
around these glorious revelations, for such has been the case with 
all the simpler and less alluring or less inviting apocalypses of all 
past time, of all the bibles from Brahma to Mohammed, and es- 
pecially with the Jewish Bible and Christian revelations. See 
what stupendous fabrics of superstition have been reared and per- 
petuated on this simple revelation. It is all poor human nature. 
Let us independently investigate the credibility and philosophy 
of the phenomena, and not abjectly submit to the forged formu- 
laries of a paid priesthood, otherwise we never shall be free; for 
it is still poor human nature we have to deal with. If thousands 
profess to be called of God specially to preach, we should not 
wonder at other thousands professing to be inspired and commu- 
nicated with by angels of their own ilk, for certainly it is greatly 
less pretentious to hold communion with our own kith and kin 
excarnated, than with the great God and Creator, whom no man 
hath seen, or can see, or hear. Your towering aspirations have 
soared in vain to find an exalted home of purity, permanence, 
and peace, beyond the hazy horizon of mundane mutations. You 
have seen the utter inadequacy, the futility, the absurdity, and the 
falsity of all the revelations as expounded and proclaimed by pon- 
tiff and preacher, califf and clergy. Science has lighted up to you 
the dark vaults of their superstitions, and exposed their corrup- 
tions to your enlightened view. You can have no hope here. And 
even discarding the disgusting dogmas interpolated in the Chris- 
tian Bible and embracing its fundamental enunciations as of divine 
origination, as interpreted by its official dignitaries, the diaboli- 
cal anathemas of hell and damnation without end, to his children, 
invest the character of our Creator with an attribute of cruelty and 
malignity, which, coupled with his omnipotence, would transform 
his whole universe into a boundless, an illimitable hell, without a 
pulse of pleasure to beat to the dead march of mourning millions 
unnumbered. No hope here. And even its heaven in the dim 
and uncertain distance of hereafter, so loudly glorified, and the 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 247 

plan of salvation so much lauded as the paragon of perfection in 
divine wisdom and love, indeed, as the mount on which mercy and 
justice kissed each other, fail, utterly fail, to still the troubled 
throbbings of the enlightened human heart that beats with phi- 
lanthropy and philosophy in unison with the angels. Only a mod- 
icum of earth's millions ever hear an echo of this salvation, and 
but a fraction of this modicum can reach the portals of that dis- 
tant heaven, dismal in the distance. But of those favored few 
that do pass within its pearly portals, — their memories, where 
are they? The cherished endearments of time, — do they live 
forever ? Our memories are either taken with us after death, and 
retained in heaven, or they are not. If retained, the recollections 
of loved and lost friends, now in a hopeless hell of eternal damna- 
tion, must wake an echo to mar the music of that celestial sphere, 
and inflict an anguish to throb in the very bosom of bliss ; ay, 
will wake a wail of woe that shall sound upon the long roll of 
eternal years, as ever and anon the constant cry of ' he cometh 
not, he cometh not,' shall ring out upon the cycles of eternity. 
But if our memories are not retained, then the hallowed associa- 
tions, the sacred friendships and loves, our foretaste of heaven, 
nay, our very hascceity, must die out with death, and this heaven 
is no reunion of kindred spirits ; the pure emotions of earth that 
assimilate us to the angel life are not to be rekindled in the 
Christian heaven. Will death roll a Lethean stream over all 
earth's love, and the wave of oblivion bury forever the cherished 
reminiscences of time ? Here the vortices of Scylla and Charyb- 
dis open before us. No hope here. In agony and despair, you 
leave all the miraculous revelations, and look to science. She was 
teaching you that spirit is but the result of physical organism, 
and must perish with the dissolution of the material organization ; 
that we have no undying nature. 

In despair again, but not in agony, you seek the solace of obliv- 
ion, and suck sweetness from the cup of nothing, — nepenthe 
from oblivion ; you claim and court the Brahminical privilege of 
Narvana, and implore the great Beldeva to still your throbbing 
heart, and cool your fevered brow in Lethe's turbid wave ; for is 
not this eternal sleep a sweet repose in comparison with the bitter 
life of all these old revelations ? 

You draw a virtue from this stern necessity, and call on the 
grave to cover you forever with its cold clods, and extinguish, 



245 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

death, this little lamp of life, that it may flicker no more amid 
the damps of death, where the oxygen of hope only bnds out the 
blossoms of the human heart for the nitrogen of death to blast and 
wither. 0, put out this little light that only illumes the wrecks 
of hope and the ruins of love. The ruins of love ! who can pic- 
ture them ? Who paint the human hopes that bud out like blos- 
soms of the human heart, — for what ? to fruit a heritage of 
hereafter ? No ; to be crushed and consigned to the ruins of 
love ! beside which Volney's ruins are the playthings of children. 
Imagine the pillared universe dissolving, the throne of Deity 
crumbling, the seraphim, and cherubim, and all the archangel 
host, falling and tumbling from their high-sphered beatitudes in 
indistinguishable ruin, and you may then conceive the mighty 
meaning and significance of the ruins of love. 

You look to science, and this is the lesson she teaches you: 
That all your hopes will fall in wrecks, and all your loves dissolve 
in ruins, and the silence of sleep enwrap you forever in the 
shroud of oblivion. No hope, no hope ! You would sink under 
your iliad of woes. Bat stay yet longer with me on this favored 
tribune of truth, where science drops her gems and sheds her 
sweetest rays serene. Know ye not she's culled another, and her 
highest truth, to crown the character of mankind ? Know ye 
not her last and mightiest truth, that unlocks the chambers of 
angelic life, and opens portals of immortality for the aspirations 
of the true ? And against this grand and mightiest truth of 
science, which connects its electric wires of mind to spheres 
where the wreck of hopes and ruins of love are unfeared and un- 
known, beyond the regions of convolving vapor, charged with 
unequal lightning and muttering thunder, — against this sweet 
serene of science are hurled the shafts of bitter invective and 
cruel calumny by those for whom it weaves a mantle of undying 
love and charity, — some who look to science but fear opin- 
ion. 

This bright luminary that science has unfolded in the firma- 
ment is inveighed against, barked at, and assailed by the poor 
canine kindred of the human family, who follow less science than 
fear and prejudice. Just so, you know, was the great Watt op- 
posed, and his great labor-saving discovery, because it would sup- 
plant and save human labor, just as this will supplant prelatic 
officiation and save human sorrow ; and so the mighty man of 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 249 

Wurtemberg was maligned and menaced because he lettered the 
language for earth's pitied children, and the printing-press was 
ascribed to diabolism. And so the opposition to the establish- 
ment of the Royal Society, because it was asserted that the exper- 
imental philosophy was subversive of the Christian faith ; and the 
readers of D'Israeli will remember the telescope and microscope 
were stigmatized as atheistical inventions, which perverted our 
organ of sight and made everything appear in a false light. So 
late as 1806 the An ti- Vaccination Society denounced the discovery 
of vaccination as a gross violation of religion, morality, law, and 
humanity. It was denounced from the pulpit as diabolical, 
tempting of God's providence, an invention of Satan, a wresting 
out of the hands of the Almighty the divine dispensation of 
Providence, and its abettors were charged with sorcery and athe- 
ism. When fanning-machines were first introduced to winnow 
the chaff from the wheat by producing an artificial current of air, 
it was argued that winds were raised by God alone, and it was 
irreligious in man to attempt to raise wind for himself and by 
efforts of his own. And one Scottish clergyman refused the holy 
communion to those of his parishioners who thus irreverently 
raised the Devil's wind. 

You remember how the innocent recreation of dancing is de- 
nounced by the Puritanical pious; 'that the dance is the Devil's 
procession ; the woman that singeth in the dance is the prioress of 
the Devil, and those that answer are his clerks, and the beholders 
are his parishioners, and the music are the bells, and the fiddlers 
are the ministers of the Devil/ etc., (often better ministers than 
some others of greater pretensions we wot of.) The great Kepler, 
for his grand astronomic revelations, was accused of conjuration 
with the Devil ; and see how were treated Gallileo, Faust, Socra- 
tes, and a host of other moral luminaries, representative men — 
no, not all — for some lived in supernal spheres, many centuries 
beyond their age and generation. And Jesus Christ, who preached 
peace and charity on earth, and happiness and immortality in 
heaven, to the good, was crucified because he claimed to be a son 
of our common Father. What boots it, then, if we, too, be con- 
temned and ostracised ? Let the old theologue plod the path 
that pays, the rampant preacher valiantly demolish the man of 
steam he builds ; and let the wrangling politician intrigue and 
trade for the spoils of office, or labor for the ephemeral glory of a 



250 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

momentary notoriety ; be it our mission, botli humble and proud, 
or public or private, to trace the glimmering threads of light that 
reach us from a higher world, investigate the arganon of nature, 
teach charity and truth, inculcate love as the element of immor- 
tality, and claim, and cherish, and cultivate kindred with the an- 
gel world. This world of fools may call us infatuated, mad, 
crazy. Did they not call the great Chatham mad, because he 
denounced the Crown and declared Britain ' never could con- 
quer America, never, never ! ' Then call us mad, because we de- 
nounce the crown of popular prejudice, and declare death and 
hell never can conquer our loves, never, never ! Did they not call 
the great orator and scientific statesman and philosopher, Edmund 
Burke, whose name illuminates Irish and British history, mad, 
because he foretold the unhappy results of the French Eevolution, 
and in fiery denunciations of the ministry, thundered to the Chair 
of the Commons the words of St. Paul, ' I am not mad, most noble 
Festus, but speak the words of truth and soberness,' and predicted 
that in twenty years the world would call his accusers mad ; and 
also because in his tender and affectionate memory for his de- 
ceased son, whom he feared, and perhaps believed, he would never 
meet again, for the world then had no proof to satisfy his philo- 
sophic mind of immortality, because he would embrace and caress, 
in the most touching manner, his son's favorite horse ! I, too, 
have done the same thing, and do now caress and pet the favorite 
horse of my son, — lost and loved, — so like his young master, so 
spirited and yet so gentle ; and so, likewise, does his sister, so de- 
voted to his memory; indeed, his memory, now, is our family 
shrine. Am I and my artless, innocent, aud affectionate daughter, 
then — ay, and everybody whohas this deep devotion of love, this 
idiocy, or idiocrasy, or idiosyncrasy, as the callous brute might 
call it — infatuated, mad ? Ay, we would, indeed, be mad, if the 
noble son and brother, though ' unconverted, 5 were consigned by 
God to an endless hell, or endless nihility, that we nevermore 
should meet his manly form, nor share his genial sympath ies. Is 
this quenchless love, unfolded from our life like the unconscious 
flower from the earth, a pretty principle to fade forever after a 
fleeting hour ? Or is it an infant attribute, an emanation of the 
eternal God, to light our life forever, quenchless as yon fires that 
light the firmament ? Let us investigate and be patient, trusting 
to the goodness of that God who has planted our path with the 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 251 

myrtle and the rose, and strewed our bed with flowers, to gratify 
our love for the pure and the beautiful, with which he hath en- 
dowed us, that he will yet gratify all our loves, and plant us, too, 
among the fadeless flowers of the spheres where love immortal 
blooms ! You will recollect how Franklin, and Fulton, and Fitch 
were derided, and the greatest and best men of the world ridi- 
culed and insulted. But all this is passing away before the march 
of mind, and will not deter your honest and fearless spirits of 
moral heroism. i The world moves for all that.' Science marches 
on, and destiny develops, and philosophy unfolds, silent as the 
circle of the sun, steady as the travel of a star, and sure as the 
annals of eternity. 

I ask you to investigate this philosophy, — for it is open to all, 
and specially invites you philomathic men of wisdom, — examine its 
records, inspect its muniments, test its truth, and appropriate the 
precious, priceless pearl, to glitter in the galaxy of your loves. 
Study well this mysterious and hitherto unknown principle of 
the human mind and of nature ; and most especially I entreat 
you, to analyze the wonderful mysteries of modern contempora- 
neous record ; search the secret of the startling phenomena of 
daily development aud occurence around you, as chronicled in the 
periodical press of Spiritual literature, so accessible to all; the 
thrilling incidents, and startling intelligence in the youth and 
early years of deceased friends, intelligence long forgotten, or en- 
tirely unknown, contrary to the impressions and opinions of all 
in carnal connection, but afterwards found to be true, and which 
could have been communicated by none but those who thus avow 
themselves, we know to be deceased ; and sometimes the very air 
is vocal with the chord melodies of these angelic spirits who for- 
merly wore the flesh of men. 

These facts and millions more, occurring in all ages and gener- 
ations, and in our own age, and in our own midst, as well avouched 
and authenticated as any other facts not within our personal 
cognition, and which urgently invite personal cognizance, certainly 
challenge and should command your most devoted investigation. 
Is it psychometry ? If so, how could the psychometer perceive 
them, unless they or their representatives were somewhere, and 
and accessible, when in actual existence ? Then it must be ocular 
demonstration of immortality. Is it psychologic illusion ? If so, 
whence come the facts unknown to all at the time ? Is it due to 



252 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

an abnormal excitation, or mysterious mental exuberation ? If 
so, whence the cause of this condition, when in a state of perfect 
passivity ? and whence the source of the great truths uttered ? I 
call upon the learned to explicate these occult elements, unfold 
the latent agencies of these potent phenomena, under test condi- 
tions that admit of no collusion or deception, if they be not, as 
invariably claimed, messages of immortality from our friends who 
have passed the mystic portal. Hear the burning words through 
the mouth of a medium, from the great Greek, whose fame like 
him of Latium two centuries later, fills the spheres of our world: 
a fame that has no ensanguined track of victims to deplore, no 
writhing desolation to bewail, like Titus and Vespasian over Jeru- 
salem in ruins, with its bleeding sons, and famishing mother de- 
vouring her child; no weltering Waterloo to weep over, like 
Wellington, when his melting eyes surveyed the bloody carnage 
he had wrought ; whose escutcheon is untarnished with a tear, 
and unstained with a drop of human blood; whose melody is 
unmarred with the widow's moan or an orphan's sigh, pure and 
spotless as the cerulean ether that poured its inspirations into his 
great soul. ' Had you asked me concerning God a thousand years 
ago, I could have told you all about him, but now, after I have 
walked the highway of celestial worlds for more than two thou- 
sand years, I am so far lost and overpowered amid the splendors 
of infinitude, I can say nothing; height on height beyond the 
penetration of finite vision, I see the dim outlines of a deitific 
universe ; I feel the flood-tides of Divinity flowing down through 
all the avenues of my immortal being ; I hear peal after peal of 
archangel eloquence ringing through the endless archways of the 
empyrean, evermore sounding into my ears the name of God, God, 
God ! I 'm silent, dumb.' Is n't this Demosthenaic, and is it his in- 
spiration, or is it due to the genius of the medium ? suppose the 
medium youthful, artless, and without genius, and pouring forth 
such eloquent thoughts as is frequently, or at least sometimes, 
the case, then whence the source, and what the philosophy, if it 
be not, as invariably avowed from present immortals, of the spirit 
world ? The theory of a diseased, or morbid, or abnormal condi- 
tion of the brain, will not, cannot, explain the unknown intelli- 
gence. 

Now that the phenomena of spiritualism are true, you will not, 
cannot deny ; but the question to investigate is, Are they the re- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 253 

suit of supernal spiritual agency, or of some other occult philoso- 
phy ? I have said psychology furnishes a rational though not 
satisfactory explanation: indeed, spiritualism is psychology ex- 
tended to the spirit world : and I now assert psychometry to be a 
rational theory of explanation for the spiritual phenomena : but 
this, like the other, fails in practice under strict test conditions 
and trials ; can psychometry or psychology as confined to flesh, or 
can any degree of mental excitation independent of supernal 
spiritual inspiration, account for and explain how Appollonius, 
when discoursing at Ephesus, suddenly exclaimed, ' Strike, strike 
the tyrant ! courage my friends, for at this very moment the ty- 
rant is slain ': and subsequent intelligence proved that the reign- 
ing tyrant Domitian was assassinated at that very hour. And 
how the preacher among the Grampian hills of Scotland, when in 
the midst of his prayer, he suddenly stopped, and trembling with 
peculiar nervous emotion exclaimed: 'Rejoice my people, we are 
free: Charles Stuart speaks no more; his tongue hangs out and 
they can never get it back again ' — became impressed with this 
idea, and was so suddenly and unexpectedly informed of this fact, 
which was totally unknown, and indeed at that very moment, 
hundreds of miles distant, and precisely as he was impressed, and 
expressed it, his tongue protruding immediately after death, and 
his attendants unsuccessfully striving to replace it. Can any 
conceived or conceivable philosophy explicate these cases, other 
than that of spiritual influence, as avowed by the authors them- 
selves in spirit life ? In this case just referred to, there can be no 
psychometric picture of the sensitive brain of the preacher, for 
the subject of the picture had not existed until now ; nor could 
human psychology have operated, for the fact was unknown at 
the time outside of the immediate circle who witnessed it ; and if 
mind itself is capable of this mighty expansion, why does it not 
perceive human mortality or death if such be fact, or why, if this 
last be the philosophy, does it always perceive human immortalty, 
if such be not the fact ? And I ask this question of all these and 
all other philosophies and theories that have been, or may be put 
forth, to explain these spiritual phenomena. Why is it that they 
all invariably point to spiritual philosophy, or reveal spirit life and 
form, human immortality as superior, if not ubiquitous, intelli- 
gence ? This is very significant ; we know not, and nobody knows 
a physical element or combination of such elements, edequate to 



254 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

this phenomena, beyond our detection. The only solution is men- 
tal or spiritual ; and whence, and who, and where the mind or 
spirit, if it be not our excarnated friends, now immortal angels, 
in contiguous spheres near to and communicating with us ? Thus 
ye men of science, fully unfold this mighty philosophy of a new 
element in human nature, a potent principle for no good, no pur- 
pose to the Creator or the creature, unless it reaches to a kindred 
spirit land, whose love attractions draw us to those sweet shores of 
spirit empire, when we shall drink from near the fountain, and 
imbibe the vitalizing azure air that develop angelic intelligences, 
the mighty multitude of happy life that God is gathering around 
him, as a father gathers his children, and binds their brows with 
garlands of beauty and love. 

Let not the follies, falsities and fatuities of charlatans, for they 
swarm everywhere, so disgust you as to turn you from the tran- 
scendant splendor of the philosophy. 

Trace those ' strings, or threads of distant contact ' by which 
the blind man perceived and recognized others, of which Aber- 
crombie speaks, before the spiritual philosophy was known; or 
' the fine thread of light which moves the medium ' as a spirit 
lately spoke; and see if they don't draw you to those spheres 
where flows the ambrosial nectar of the gods. my co-evals and 
co-equals in philanthropy, philosophy and science! you whose 
aspirations thrill responsive to my own ! I ask you, urge you, to 
come up closer to this warm sun of the soul and receive new life, 
and relume your love where ruin is unknown, and warm your 
hearts so chilled by the cold creeds of old theology. Come, let us 
worship at the shrine of philosophy, for this is the true worship 
of the true God. Listen, listen to this new, near music of the 
circumambient spheres. 

Hear the harmonies that thrill those near concentric realms of 
pure and spotless spirituality. March to the music of those melo- 
dies that roll and reverberate anthemic raptures along the grand 
corridors of all eternity. Awake, ye who shall awake while the 
centuries sleep! You shall be my kindred and my colleagues and 
colaborators in this glorious path of progress that leads us to 
higher life, and points to the portals of immortal love, where 
ambrosial dews and theobromal streams permeate the azure ether 
and fertilize immortal mind. 

Arouse the dormant energies of your universal love, and shake 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 255 

off the apathy of ignorance and the bigotry of blind education 
that invest our fellow-men as vestures of triple steel. 

If our determined will has the power to control nature, why 
not control human destiny, for what is destiny but nature ? 
"What is anything or everything, known and unknown, but na- 
ture ? Then let us determine by a pure, resolute and honest will, 
to live like philosophers and die like gods, or the sons of God — 
die but to put on immortal mantles and claim the legitimate 
legacy of our Father. 

Let us spurn the success of the ignorant but self-wise scoffer, 
pity the poor pulings of the soulless slave to gross matter; rise 
in the true majesty of developed men; vindicate the true mag- 
nificence of our destiny ; assert the divinity within us ; exalt our 
love; expand our thoughts; unfurl the latent pinions of our 
immortal being and soar amid the radiant realms of a spiritual 
universe for those splendid pavilions encircling the sky of science 
and the shrine of philosophy ! " 

"This earth of ours is a mighty organ, 
Of strings without end, keys numberless, 
And notes innumerable ; some resound, 
Deep-toned and grand, like ocean in the storm, 
And thunder on its chariot of cloud ; 
Others sing silence as their sweetest strain, 
To melodize the ear of intellect ; 
But all the million tongues of this organ 
Grand, peel out the mind of God omnific, 
And nature's vast, omniferous design, 
To people the spheres with immortal man,— 
The typic cross, the crescent, and the scroll, 
Symbols of faith, of passion and of soul ; 
Unfurl the lettered scroll ! Angel emblem 
Of the grand spiritual philosophy ; 
Unrolling life around the starry spheres. 
Unfolding angels of immortal love, 
And op'ning the destinies of heaven." 

To-day a dispute arose regarding Sunday, or the Sabbath. 
One declares Saturday to be the day ordained and proclaimed by 
the Lord himself as the day to be kept holy, (as if all days should 
not be so kept) she knows it to be so, for the Bible says so — and 
did not the Lord, who created the earth, rest from his labors on 
that day ? 



256 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

What said our Lord and Master regarding the Sabbath ? 

" Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which 
is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In 
these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, with- 
ered, waiting for the moving of the water. 

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and 
troubled the water ; whosoever then first after the troubling of 
the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he 
had. 

And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and 
eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been 
now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be 
made whole ? 

The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the 
water is troubled, to put me into the pool ; but while I am com- 
ing, another steppeth down before me. 

Jesus saith unto him, Eise, take up thy bed, and walk. And 
immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and 
walked : and on the same day was the Sabbath. 

The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the 
Sabbath day ; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He an- 
swered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, 
Take up thy bed, and walk. 

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay 
him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But 
Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 

Again : — 

" There was a man which had his hand withered. And they 
asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days ? that 
they might accuse him. And he said unto them, 

What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, 
and it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on 
it and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep ? 
Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." 

" And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first, that 
he went through the corn fields ; and his disciples plucked the 
ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And cer- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 257 

tain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is 
not lawful to do on the Sabbath days ? 

And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as 
this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they 
which were with him ; 

How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the 
shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him ; which it 
is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone ? 

And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and 
not man for the Sabbath ; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also 
of the Sabbath." 

" And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that he entered 
into the synagogue ; and there was a certain man whose right 
hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, 
whether he would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find 
an accusation against him. 

But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had 
the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth. Then said Jesus 
unto them, I will ask you one thing ; 

Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil ? to 
save life or destroy it ? And looking round about upon them all, 
he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so ; and 
his hand was restored whole as the other. 

And they were filled with madness, and communed with one 
another what they might do to Jesus." 

" But a few years ago it was not lawful for a man to kiss his 
wife on Sunday, called Sunday because the Sabians worshipped 
the sun on that day ; and even now all the American States, ex- 
cept Texas, and perhaps California, regard an innocent recrea- 
tion on Sunday as a shocking sin, and cause every man by their 

statutes to ' keep ' and observe this day, Sunday, according to 

what ? his own conscience ? No ; to the -dictation of the domi- 
nant priesthood. And yet these very priests differ as to the true 
day of their Sabbath. 

But all this despotic dysnomy of superstition will be swept from 
our statute books, by the march of mind to that true liberty 
which will enable us to spend Sunday and any other day just as 
we please, provided with the one simple condition, that we inter- 
fere not with others in doing just as they please, — all conscience 
unfettered from other's dogmatic dictum." 



258 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I saw but yesternight, 

A baby dear and sweet, 
Her little face was round and very fair, 

Her chubby hands and feet — 

Her merry eyes so bright ! 
O she was mamma's joy as well as care ! 

Her father's darling too, 

As one could plainly see : 
Their first and only — may she long be spared 

Their hearts and home to cheer, 

And may they wisely rear 
This lamb so sweet— this cherished, tender bud. 

Two months ago she came, 

And "Precious " is her name — 
Her baby name— by which she now is called : 

Appropriate it seems, 

For they the darling deem 
More precious far than wealth of finest gold. 

Two other names has she, 

Of native states are they ; 
One her father's, one her mother's early home : 

The first is Georgia, 

Next sweet Virginia : 
O may she traverse both in times to come. 

The cherub has not known 

As yet, an ache or pain, 
O may her parents, kind and true, be wise — 

The laws of nature teach, 

Then far above the reach 
Of mortal ills, and human woes she'll rise,— 

Be fitted here below, 

The joys of heaven to know — 
To know that life 's immortal and divine — 

That love alone, can gild 

The bright celestial shield, 
Which makes our earthly home — a sacred shrine. 

* The science of physiology which is the soil of the soul, and 
the science of life, is gradually unfolding the philosophy of our 
physical, and I may add spiritual nature, for upon it are founded 
and out of it spring the perfections of both our physical and 
spiritual characters. 

We can improve and beautify our species — it is, to a very 
considerable extent, within the power of parents, especially the 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 259 

mother, though the daughters generally inherit the mental 
constitution of the father, and the sons that of the mother, yet they 
in turn transmit the same, subject to the same controlling 
influences — by assiduous effort and proper training of passion, 
feeling, emotion, and objects of sight, thought, employment, asso- 
ciation to mold the offspring in the character of mind and body 
desired. And it is owing to this fact that so many distinguished 
men have uncommon names, inheriting the vigorous originality of 
their mothers, who would not be bound by the old nomenclature of 
John, Jim, or Joe. The mother of the great Italian, Dante, before 
he was born, had a splendid vision of supernal spheres with fairies 
flitting before her fancy, which made a powerful and permanent 
impression on her mind. Dante was born a brilliant poet. Napo- 
leon's mother was very fond of riding with her husband witnessing 
the review and marshalling of troops, and expressed great anxiety to 
witness a battle ; and his first view of this life was on a portable 
couch, ornamented with the heroes of the Iliad, his mother being 
borne on it from the church whence she was thus suddenly called. 
Napoleon was born a great captain. ' A word to the wise is suf- 
ficient,' and if you are not thus wise, it is your imperative duty 
at once to set about the study of human physiology : for it is the 
study of our lives. I have read of the death of an infant being 
caused by the lacteal poison imbibed from its mother, who had 
been the victim of a violent passion of anger. Eead the story of 
Jacob and his spotted cattle — which illustrates the great and 
primary truth ; he was well knowing of the fact, but ignorant of 
its philosophy — just as the prophets and apostles were cognizant 
of the facts of spiritual influx and visions, but knew nothing of 
their significance and philosophy. 

Woman wields the world and molds the character of mankind; 
in her keeping are the destinies of the human family. Said the 
first Napoleon, i Tell me the character of your women, and I '11 
know your men.' 

As judicious energy is the crown of character in man, so chaste 
meekness is the crown of character in woman — I mean true wo- 
man, not the worthless pet and inert toy of indolence, or the im- 
perious queen, who looks upon man as made for her special slave, 
bedecked with silks and flaming feathers, or fine furniture and 
gorgeous drawing-rooms, * a pig in the parlor and a peacock on 
the promenade,' as Cabet used to call 'em, who cannot string to- 



260 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

gether correctly a dozen words of her own vernacular (and there 
is no accomplishment, especially for a lady, equal to chaste, cor- 
rect, and beautiful language), with no refinement or personal fem- 
inine fascination. 0, ignorance with aristocracy, pretension with 
vulgarity, and wealth with wickedness, stinginess, meanness, and 
selfishness, are so ineffably, and unutterably, and intolerably dis- 
gusting. And, of course, such are ignorant of their ignorance, 
and this ignorance is bliss : ' Where ignorance is bliss, 't is folly 
to be wise.' 

Nature and its philosophy stamps man — that is, true man of 
action, energy, honesty and truth — as the Lord ; and the woman 
who does not thus view him, and comprehend her proper relation, 
is ignorant of her highest excellence, and a stranger to her true and 
great power. [With all due regard to our contemporary, we ac- 
knowledge a difference of opinion.] As an illustrious example of 
her potency in this respect, when the expatriated Coriolanus, at 
the head of the Volsci, marched upon his native city, and lighted 
the circumjacent hills of Eome with the camp-fires of her numer- 
ous and relentless enemy, threatening immediate destruction, dep- 
utations of her most illustrious citizens, committees of the Sen- 
ate, priests of religion, old and gray-headed men, all were in turn 
sent out to him, soliciting and imploring his leniency and mercy, 
but to no avail; the injured and vindictive heart of Coriolanus 
was inexorable, and the devoted city seemed doomed to expiate her 
injustice to him, and gratify his full revenge. Finally, as a last, 
forlorn, and apparently hopeless resort, his mother and wife, Vetu- 
ria and Virgilia, were sent to him, and falling on their knees, 
begged his pardon and protection. * 0, my son ! ' cried his mother, 
6 do I embrace my son or my enemy ? Am I your mother or your 
captive ? How have I lived to see this day, — to see my son a 
banished man, and, still more agonizing, to see him the enemy 
of his country, devoting to destruction the city that gave him 
birth ? Had I never been born, Eome would still be free ! ' The 
stern heart of the warrior, that had withstood, unmoved, so many 
scenes, supplications, and appeals, melted before these tears of 
woman's meekness, and relented of all its vindictiveness. The 
great army of the Volsci, he immediately marched away ; but the 
event fulfilled the sad prediction which he addressed to his mother 
in reply, a prediction which only a Eoman mother could hear, 
6 0, my mother, thou hast saved Eome, but lost thy son ! ' He 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 261 

was soon murdered by the enraged Volsci. In honor of Veturia's 
merit, the Eomans dedicated a temple to Female Fortune. 

The torrent of the storm, the mountain avalanche, hath no 
such power as the streaming tears of woman's meekness, to melt 
the heart of man. When the noble Cornelia was called upon by 
a vain lady, who had been exhibiting her meritricious ornaments, 
to show hers, she presented her children, exclaiming, i these are 
my jewels.' Yours, ladies, is a high and holy charge. In your 
sacred keeping is the character of men. I would urge you, as a 
sacred duty, to study well human physiology, our anthroposophy 
and anthropology, it is that science of that immortal life which 
is in your hands. We are ignorant of the immense misery and 
misforfune entailed upon our children by this very ignorance." 

I will here insert for the benefit of the " Masonic Fraternity," 
a communication dictated by a brother mason in spirit life, in re- 
ply to a letter of inquiry in regard to the advancement of " Capit- 
ular Masonry," etc.: after which, and in connection with, is a 
communication given through my own powers ; this I had not 
thought to insert here, but as it is the first personal communica- 
tion (consciously written) vouchsafed through me, I trust it will 
not be considered amiss to thus preserve it. I will also state that 
the following, was the first conscious impressment of this medium, 
also a brother mason. 

" Comp. In answer to your request to furnish a 'full 

account of the workings of our chapter,' I would be pleased to say, 
our workings have been somewhat various : at times we were dis- 
posed to proceed with what we had before us : again, it seemed 
irksome and troublesome to go on. 

The Chapter has been in a languid state for want of unanimity 
to proceed with its high destiny ; a strict adherence to the prin- 
ciples of masonry as inculcated by its teachings, would obviate all 
difficulties, and make Masonry prosperous and secure in the hearts 
of the fraternity. 

A reasonable allowance might be made for want of unity, but 
then there should be a careful watchfulness over the morals and 
obligations of its members, in order to make it a success, both as 
to this world and the world to come. 

Should its teachings be strictly observed, would it not be a glo- 



262 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

rious institution ? But alas ! how many fall by the wayside, and 
none to pick them up, none to regret their falling. Those who have 
obtained an earthly mansion, too often forget, or cannot see, their 
obligated brother in distress, much less give him a welcome hand, 
to aid him through the toils and troubles of this life. 

Greediness and want of sympathy stifle out the latent spark 
of liberality and quench the spirit of benevolence. It is a burn- 
ing shame that the want of charity blunts the true understanding 
of Masonry among some masons, while the red-hot cinders of 
perdition and anathemas are copiously thrown upon their head, 
all to make an excuse for the lack of that charity which they 
refuse to an unfortunate brother. 

How long will these things last ? when will the joyful sound 
be heard — Go, brother and do your duty to your fellow com- 
panion — with the joyful response, I will? When will the 
brother mason learn his duty to his equally obligated brother and 
do it accordingly, without restraint from the wilful bad examples 
around him ? When will he come forward and act conscien- 
tiously, enforcing his principles by precept, and spread the glorious 
principles of Masonry with unselfishness, and stifle out the mis- 
erable pandering to selfishness and money-making at the expense 
of the true principles of Masonry ? 

These are the questions to be considered in wri ting-up a super- 
ficial history of Masonry with its objects considered, by which, 
according to your letter, ' Capitular Masonry may le advanced? 
with ' such suggestions as I may deem advisable.' 

My dear companion, I fear you are engaged in a fearful work 
if you expect to show that the work is true and acceptable to the 
'Master Overseer' above. Consider! consider well what you 
undertake, and be certain that your foundations are solid and 
that the material is good and pure before you start — for I tell 
you if you reject all that is worthless, you will have but little left 
to build your Temple with. 

One M. E. G. High Priest has left us and gone to the spirit 
land. In him we had a good and charitable officer — his memory 
is strongly embalmed in the hearts of the brotherhood. Had this 
correspondence fallen to his lot while here, it probably would 
have been executed more pleasantly to the craft. But although 
he is absent in the flesh, I feel his presence in the discharge of 
this duty through his spiritual mediumship, and hope you will 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 263 

pardon me when I say, Had it not been for his spiritual influence 
you would riot have received this communication. 

The following marked composition through the mediumistic 

powers of Miss B , from Companion D , addressed to 

myself, explains itself and shows an intimate connection to what 
I have written under the same influence. 

Ponder and reflect over both, and make your own conclusions 
in the true spirit — remembering that you and all of us sooner or 
later will meet our departed companions face to face in the spirit 
land, in sight of the Lodge not made with hands eternal in the 
Heavens. Yours affectionately, 



Acting M. E. H. P. 



My dear brother F , I cannot give here 

The " workings of your chapter," as well as 

Ye who do still inhabit the earth sphere : 

But I wish to say — I come at your call, 

And am often with you. I have many 

Times tried to make you feel my presence near. 

The task I fear was vain, until at last 

Through your friend's control, your attention kind 

I was helped to gain. This eased my burden'd soul, 

For I knew if once the door was unbarred, 

And my brethren fraternal did see the 

Pure satisfaction the so-called dead derive 

From communion with friends below, one point, 

At least, was gained : and here I would say to 

One and all — 'T is a truth eternal. An 

Established law beyond the frail power of 

Human control doth govern the same ; this 

Much I do know — and hope soon to learn more. 

There 's much with which we do have to contend, 

In coming back here and giving the truth : 

But here let me tell you, as brother and 



264 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Friend, we all must atone for the sins of 
Youth, be they ever so many, or few. 
You would like to know how I 'm getting on : 
I will tell you true, for in the future, 
I hope to become a trustworthy man ; 
I should quite well get along but for this, 
The imposture my life sanctioned below j 
I was not, as you know, wholly to blame : 
For, though I am far less good than I seem, 
Yet I seem not so good as 1 am ; now 
This may puzzle you sore, but it 's the truth, 
I ween : accept thou, then, in love, the same. 

I am here, unable to devise means 
By which " Capitular Masonry " may 
Be advanced, so far as regards for ms, the 
One thing needful is, more charity toward 
Your fellow men. Our brotherhood would then 
Unite to bless our holy Order, nor 
That alone, for all are "Brothers" here, 
Who do profess and live the truth. When all 
Is said and done, the sum of it is this ; 
To love our neighbor as ourself. And now, 
A favor I would ask of thee, brother, 
Which is, that you will kindly try to show, 
Explain, the truths which I have given you : 
Others I trust, will then investigate, 
And learn, in time, how to control the power 
Of this magnetic bond between the spheres ; 
This bond is to the earth and heaven a dower 
Which lay buried deep for scores of years, 
To nearly all, and then revived again. 
I am told, that the light of the same can 
Never more grow dim : but will brightly shine 
To illumine the pathway, pure, sublime, 
That 's trodden by mortals, and angels divine, 
Who lovingly come to visit your homes. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 265 

I fear, brother F , you'll not comprehend 

How it is, that you do receive in verse, 

The sentiments of your still-living friend, 

Who could not compile a line of the same. 

This much will I say, it is by the aid 

Of the medium's guide, who doth control ; 

I cannot explain to you fully, now, 

But I wish you well : the Fraternity too ; 

May they keep in view high Heaven's decree. 



Kind spirit friends. Our letters have, of late, been few and far 
between — those, at least, in which you are more particularly in- 
terested ; but I have at the present time three, whose " fragrance 
smells to heaven/' which I would ask you to peruse with me ; and 
if so be that ye have ought to give in reply, I subject myself to 
your further control. 

" I felt a great desire to see the work as soon as I heard of its 
publication. I found in it many things, that, as you say, I should 
have to dissent from, but I will not attempt to criticize the book, 
not feeling myself to be a competent judge ; still I will express 
most sincere admiration, for the independence of character which 
you must possess, to enable you so to brave public opinion, as not 
only to write a book, but to express in it your honest convictions, 
though you knew they would meet with the disapproval of most 
of your readers. I wish there was more of that kind of courage 
among us ; then we should not have to wait so long for the devel- 
opment gf every new idea under the sun, as we now have to." 

The writer of the above is no stranger unto us. We have 
watched, for years, her firm, unerring course, unerring, so far as 
her innate convictions of truth and right were established. Her 
honest and candid avowment of her incompetency to judge a 
work of this character, is precisely what we should expect from 
one whose life and deeds give evidence that the indwelling spirit, 
which is the soul of honor, has been baptized into the celestial 
kingdom of charity and good-will towards the whole human family. 
We are not surprised that from many things which were given in 



266 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

that work she should at present dissent, or, more correctly speak- 
ing, should fail to embrace the spiritual teachings here set forth. 
There are two apparent reasons for this : First, her mind has 
never been directed or led into this particular channel of obser- 
vation or reflection. Secondly, the simple and childlike lessons 
contained therein, are not of a character to reach her superior and 
highly cultured mind, possessing a wealth of original and pro- 
gressive ideas and thoughts. Were we to anticipate, we might say 
that the present work is much better adapted to the edification 
of this class of minds. 

The sincere admiration expressed for the independence of char- 
acter exhibited, is but the reflection of her own inherent nature 
and true nobility of soul, which soars above the whims and ca- 
prices of a prejudiced public opinion, and which is unfettered by 
adherence to worthless creeds and dogmas. 

We bespeak for her, not only a warm interest in this beautiful 
philosophy, but trust ere long she will also be a co-laborer in this 
wide field for literary genius, giving forth from her diamond mind, 
rich " gems of purest ray serene," which shall brighten many a 
household, and point the hearts of humanity to the fields of im- 
mortal light and love on the fadeless shores of eternity. 

"We reject many truths when first presented, which afterwards, 
upon investigation, command our credence. For example, it 
seems anomalous and incredible to assert that more men die in a 
healthy country, than in a sickly one ; but such is a demonstrable 
truth, which will command not only our credence, but absolute 
knowledge, when we investigate it by the light, of science, and 
submit it to that great gift of the Creator, common sense or rea- 
son. A thousand people placed in a sickly country, would, in a 
hundred years, increase but little, perhaps decrease ; but the same 
number placed in a healthy country, would multiply rapidly, and 
in a few generations, the deaths from this dense population, would, 
of course, greatly outnumber the deaths from the comparatively 
sparse population of the unhealthy region, for men must necessa- 
rily die everywhere, from decrepitude or by disease. Thus it is 
demonstrable that in the course of a century or of several genera- 
tions, a greater number of people die in a salubrious, than in an 
insalubrious country, however, at first thought, we may have re- 
jected the truth, as absurd and impossible. And it appears false 
to say that there is water in dry, inflammable gunpowder, and that 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 267 

much the largest portion of the human body is water instead of 
solid matter ; but which are facts proved by science. 

Now, as applied to this new philosophy of life, I cannot aver 
that I know it to be true ; but the numbers and reputable char- 
acter of the testimony, and the amount and the scientifie nature 
of the evidence in its support, to say nothing of my intuition of 
its goodness, its grandeur, and its glory, are vastly superior to that 
supporting any other religion, or philosophy of life, or system of 
ethics, and irresistably compels me to believe it, and embrace it, 
aud throw the anchor of my hope within the storied temple of its 
splendid pavilions. 

Hence, from these conclusions, let us learn first, last, and all the 
time, not to reject or accept anything without patient and thor- 
ough investigation. This is specially, and particularly, and em- 
phatically, applicable to. the great and momentous subject of our 
duty and destiny, which is our religion." 

Our next extract is from the pen of one who, four months ago, 
was a skeptic and an unbeliever ; but who now, as you will infer 
from the correspondence, is not only a firm believer, but a co- 
worker with us in this great reformatory movement. 

" Now for the all-absorbing question, — Spiritualism : A lady 
visitor at our house, gives a flowing account of the ' spirits ' and 

their doings, at S . It seems to be a voluntary production 

there, comes naturally, without any cultivation, and the crop 
seems to be various ; the poor spirits telling, in some instances, 
awful tales on the good citizens, which did not go down well with 
some, horrified others, and others, again, got venomous. They 
go by turns — different houses on different nights, and the ball 
keeps gathering as it rolls — skeptics dumb-founded and obliged 
to give it up, and the population falling into the belief generally, 
as to the truth of invisible powers of intelligence, etc. But the 
whole thing is a sort of catched-up, agreeable sort of development, 
not regulated by any advancement beyond the rapping of the 
table and the quality or quantity present. A good, lively thing 
they make of it, according to what my lady friend reports. 

"We are doing the best we can, considering that everything has 
succumbed to the development of the trance and slate, — no 
friendly table-tipping, no impressional writing, no good, nice, 
agreeable talks to the poor spirits beyond. All gone, gone, to 



268 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

give the trance and slate developmentary project, a chance to 
break through the shell, a full-feathered realization, or nude, I do 
not know which ; at any rate, we are flat for the want of some- 
thing to do, whereby we can gather in the harvest of spiritual 
seekers ready to be shocked, threshed, and the chaff separated 
from the grain, and bagged for the Centennial or Millennium, as 
you may be pleased to term it ; the first being dedicated to the 
spirit of liberty, and the latter to the liberty of spirit." 

From the same a few days latter. 

" We have several new friends, — spiritual, — who communicate 
to us good and welcome intelligence. The trance no go — the 
slate yet on hand, progressing I think. Some three new friends, 
mechanical writers all, for my benefit on hand at times, looks like 
a determined movement to make something out of me, and for 
some great purpose, (they say). Seems like I was cut out to do 
work, even if I am spoiled in the make-up. I did charge them, 
indirectly, of trying to feed my vanity, but they said No, so I am 
going along with a pencil on tip- toe, making flourishes, and hiero- 
glyphics, and straight lines of wavy crooks, in abundance. We 

still live in hopes, at some future time, to get up trance. If J 

succeeds on the slate, and I in the mechanical writing, we may 
then be able to get help. I desire no humbug or juggling, but 
strictln honest work" 

We have indeed somewhat to say concerning these things, yea, 
much that we would be glad to say, but time and space are lim- 
ited, therefore must our words be few. The account given by your 
friend, — our mutual friend we might say, for he is ours as well — 
of the spontaneous workings of the spirit, is but one instance of 
thousands which are now daily occuring upon the mundane 
sphere. The ancient prophecies are being literally fulfilled : the 
Lord is pouring out his spirit upon all flesh. The seed shall 
spring up as the grass, and as willows by the water-courses ; and 
one shall say, It is the work of the Lord : another, 'T is Satan let 
loose. 

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the 
Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth 
us ? and who knoweth us ? Surely your turning of things upside- 
down, shall be esteemed as the potter's clay : for shall the work 
say of him that made it, He made it not ? or shall the thing 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 269 

framed, say of him that framed it, He had no understanding ? It 
is yet but a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a 
fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest. 
"Will the "good citizens" be kind enough to draw their own infer- 
ence from this ? And in that day shall the deaf hear, and the 
eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 
The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor 
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel ; the righteous 
shall no longer be sold for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes, 
being pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 
A man and his father shall no more go in unto the same maid, 
to profane my holy name, saith the Lord. And I will smite the 
winter house with the summer house ; and the houses of ivory 
shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end : the Lord 
God hath sworn this by his holiness. And the multitude of all 
the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against 
her, and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream 
of a night vision ; it shall even be as when a hungry man dream- 
eth, and behold he eateth : but he awaketh and his soul is empty. 
Or as when a thirsty man dreaineth, and behold he drinketh : but 
he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite ; 
so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against 
mount Zion. 

Of our friend we would say, His work is yet scarce begun, it 
shall spring forth a full-fledged reality, for the seed shall be pros- 
perous ; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give 
her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew. 

His strict integrity of purpose, combined with high intellectual 
capabilities, render him a valuable and efficient instrument for 
good in the hands of the higher powers, especially so as his men- 
tal superstructure is such, that he is enabled to receive impres- 
sions with unusual alacrity and clearness : his perceptive faculties 
also, rendering him a competent " machine " for winnowing the 
grain. We trust the harvest will be plenteous, and will, when 
fully ripe, be gathered into the garners of Spiritual Liberty, whose 
dedication shall be ascribed in letters of gold, to — the Lord 
our Righteousness. 

Extract from our third letter : — 

" I have read your Book with interest ; have not investigated the 
principal subject of which it treats, and am of course, unable to 



270 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

form any opinion in regard to such matters, except from what 
little I have read of them : but whether true or false, I have never 
for a moment doubted your integrity or sincerity in the matter; 
at the same time, I have not been convinced that it would make 
me either happier or better, or that it was my duty to look into 
the subject of Spiritualism." 

"We have here a representative of a large class of people who, 
for three subsecutive reasons have not taken upon themselves 
the responsibility of an investigation of the subject in question. 
In the first place, the manifold cares and duties incumbent upon 
the head of a family who are dependent upon his exertions for 
their daily sustenance, leave little time or opportunity for study 
or research beyond the present and the immediate future. Sec- 
ondly, their inbred principles from early instillations, the 
nature of their avocations, the populace by which they are 
surrounded, all tend to dissuade rather than promote an investiga- 
tion of this still unpopular theory, even had they a desire of 
obtaining knowledge thereof. Lastly, they feel themselves per- 
fectly safe so long as they depart not from the path their fore- 
fathers trod, they have around them a wide circle of devoted 
freinds, none especially dear having been called from their midst. 

As a natural result this combination of circumstances and con- 
ditions produces indifference on their part without any feelings 
of malevolence or any desire to exert an opposing influence. 
They look upon Spiritualism as a theorem of little importance to 
them, and, as our friend writes, are not convinced that they should 
be any happier, better, or that it is their duty to investigate the 
subject. 

" Spiritualism, whether in ancient or modern times, does not 
always lead to pleasant results, neither does the elimination of 
any great truth. Advanced ideas invariably bring martyrs to the 
front." 

We listened, some time ago, to a conversation between some 
friends, one of whom had been absent for a time from her 
native town. As is usual in such cases, the matrimonial alliances 
and anticipations were among the first subjects of discussion. One 
friend, strange to say, for it was one of whom they would have 
least expected it — had done splendidly, better than any girl in 
the place ever had done, or ever would do. She had married a 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 271 

rich, widower" with quite a large family of children. I did not 
learn of which component part the splendor consisted — the man, 
the money, or the children ; all combined, perhaps. A young 
man had " up and got married " for no earthly reason except that 
lie could not live with his step-mother. Poor thing ! from what 
I gathered, however, he did not better himself much. As we 
freely expressed our opinion in regard to matrimony in our former 
work, we will not elaborate upon the subject here, but will give 
an extract from which mothers — step-mothers included — may 
derive a lesson; also the multitude of unfortunate beings who 
are " married and not mated." 

" John Kepler, so little popularly known, who discovered the 
motion of the sun, the weight of the atmosphere, the elliptical 
orbits of the planets, and the great law that ' the squares of the 
periodic times of the planets are to each other as the cubes of their 
mean distances from the sun/ and other great principles in the 
philosophy of astronomy, and a most dutiful and devoted son, 
whose care, kindness and affection for his mother, who had cause- 
lessly contemned him and bestowed her favors on her other sons, 
who afterwards neglected her in her old age, extorted the follow- 
ing words from her dying lips : ' I wish that all mothers would 
take warning by my case, and never show any preference to one 
child over another until they see good reason to do so. Above 
all, none should be harsh, but kind, to the one that 's anxious for 
knowledge.' He thus speaks in his epitaph, written by himself : 
'I have measured the heavens; I now measure the shades of the 
earth. The intellect is celestial ; here only the shadow of the 
body reposes/ This great and good man had to prosecute hi3 
studies under the great incubus of extreme indigence, and his 
only instrument, with which he measured the heavens, was con- 
structed of three sticks of wood, formed into a triangle and grad- 
uated, with goose quills for sights. And, like Milton, Maffitt, 
Bulwer, Lardner, and many of the finest intellects of the world, 
he was unfortunate in his matrimonial selection. What a clog, 
what a curse, for such a man, measuring the machinery of the 
universe, or studying the springs of human hope and its deep ar- 
cana, soaring for the sublime and towering to the true, to be tied 
to a termagant whose cross, contracted, distorted, capricious ken 
never reached beyond her poultry-yard or goose-pond, whose vira- 
ginity is her religion, who quarrels at his every generous and 



272 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

noble deed, contemns his honorable impulses and efforts, abuses 
his lofty aspirations, sneers at his sensitiveness, and reviles his 
refinement. Thus the contumacious and contumelious wife and 
undutif ul and ungrateful children, as in the case of Milton, treat 
him whose hand holds their heads above the wave, and whose 
efforts would weave a wreath around their names as fadeless as 
the flowers of his congenial paradise. Why is it that men of 
genius are nearly always thus unhappy in their conjugal connec- 
tions? It is a well known truth and fact, and therefore must 
have a reason and a philosophy. Indulge a brief answer to this 
question, as it involves one of the most important relations of 
life. Genius is original, superb, bold, defiant, and disdains to 
follow the worn-out paths of others, whether it be or not a disease 
of the nerves, as declared by a learned doctor ; hence the com- 
paratively ignorant wife, and her more ignorant friends, and 
simple, conceited neighbors, ever eager to officiate, call this eccen- 
tricity, obduracy, imbecility. 

" The moles and bats, in full assembly, find, 
On special search, the keen-eyed eagle blind." 

Genius also has its puerilities, and is subject to the greatest per- 
turbations, like the streaming meteor, and these, its mere aberra- 
tions, are taken by the ignorant for its normal orbit and natural 
status. For instance Sir Isaac Newton, I think it was, or some 
other great mind, on having his new barn completed, required 
the workmen to cut a hole in the door for the cats to enter, to 
drive off the rats. After the hole was made for the cat, which 
required but a few moments, he asked his workmen also to cut 
some smaller ones for the kittens, as he wished them to multiply. 
* But,' said the workmen, * if a grown cat can go through that 
hole, so can the little kittens.' * Sure enough,' rejoined the genius. 
There are many such ludicrous instances of absence of mind, — 
for they are nothing else, — recorded of great men, which silly 
men regard as the test of mentality. The great mind, after its 
herculean efforts on great subjects, becomes on these small trivi- 
alities quiescent, and is then comparatively asleep ; and such ac- 
tive minds require more sleep than sluggish ones. Napoleon fre- 
quently slept on the field of battle, on the issue of which the fate 
of Empires trembled. It is the moral duty of genius to pity the 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 273 

weak and self-conceited simpleton, and some do, occasionally, 
but not invariably, for genius is generally unstable and erratic, 
like the vivid lightning's gleam. There are many who attain re- 
nown through adventitious fortune ; but few men of genius are 
known to the world, compared to the many unknown. Again, 
the man of genius and culture is capable of conceiving, and is 
hence apt to fix a standard so high, of female loveliness, that few 
women can ' fill the bill,' to use a quaint phrase ; hence his fre- 
quent disappointments. And again, genius is high-spirited, full 
of passion, impatient of restraint, excitable and irritable, (which 
irritability is confounded, by the vixen, with her own irascibility), 
and therefore requires a wife of more than ordinary gentleness, 
patience and amiability. But genius, superb in its ideal, will 
have none other than a woman of superb beauty; and nature 
never lavishes all her gifts in one individual. I opine it would be 
as hard to find a beautiful woman who is amiable, as it is to find 
a great man who is pretty. And yet further, may it not some- 
times happen that an invidious wife, and her still more invidious 
friends, seek to drag the husband from his towering altitude, down 
to their level, whom they can never otherwise hope to equal." 

" Oh, mortals ! remember that the high and the low, the rich 
and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, — when the soul has 
shaken off the cumbrous shackles of this mortal life, — shall 
equally receive their just deserts, under the divine law of compen- 
sation ; for their good works here, happiness there ; for their evil 
deeds, sorrow. The greater the wickedness, the more intense the 
remorse. The greater the good deeds, the more delightful will be 
the condition of the soul in the spirit realm." 

In connection with this truth, and showing the different alti- 
tudes and conceptions of those entering the new life, we here in- 
sert some messages from the spirit-world, given through the me- 
diumship of Mrs. Danskin of Baltimore, through whose powers 
" hundreds of spirits have conversed with their friends on earth,, 
while she was in the entranced condition, totally unconscious."* 
We copy the same from the Banner of Light. 

" Free, free from the fetters of an earthly life, give me a place* 
in that kingdom which hath not been made by hands ! W. A. 
Richardson of Quincy, 111. My native place was Kentucky. I 



274 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

was interested in all things that appertained to the public welfare. 
Born in 1811. 1 studied law, or, rather, I became a lawyer. Af- 
terward I went to Illinois, where I settled. I was chosen five 
times to fill a place in the National Legislature. I was on the 
electoral ticket for Polk and Dallas. I held a command on the 
battle-field of Buena Vista; and with all these achievements 
which men hold so important, what gained I in the presence of the 
Infinite ? Many a beggar who walked the streets day and night, 
asking alms, was arrayed in more beautiful garments than I. 

My mind was filled with wonder when I beheld the conditions 
of the new life. Said I, ( Do the lowly become stationed above 
the higher in this world, or am I mistaken ? Is this a mere pic- 
ture ? Am I dead, or am I not ? ' A voice rolled down from the 
distant heights, which thrilled me as would an electric shock, and 
made me stand erect in my manhood. It said, i Look upward, 
not downward ; leave earth and all its treasures behind, and seek 
yonder beautiful sun that is just rising above the hills ! ' I was 
amazed ; I was filled with wonder. The thought of myself was 
not spoken, but flashed through the spirit-brain. The voice again 
said, ' You are not dead in our sight, but in the sight of ignorant 
men ; they call you dead. You have a strong and cultivated in- 
tellect ; come forward in your manhood, and deny to mortals that 
which has been so erroneously taught them, — that death was the 
fate of all mankind ; that death was the penalty offered to trans- 
gression ; that death was the monster that all men should fear. 

Tell them what you have learned of death.' And now, men 
and women, (I speak to the unlettered and ignorant as well as to 
the cultured and wise), let one who has tasted of the deep, strong 
knowledge of immortality, tell you that there is no death in the 
universes of the Infinite. We only resign that which we borrow 
from mother earth, and the ever-living spirit returns to the Source 
whence it came. 

Blessed be thy name, Infinite one ! for he has by the opera- 
tion of his divine laws, rooted out ignorance from my mind, and 
implanted therein kuowledge. 

This philosophy, which has so much light in it, deals justly, 
both with the saint and the sinner. Eegret goes backward, that I 
did not seek the knowledge of it when in the earth-form — not 
for my benefit alone, but for the good I might have done to hu- 
manity." 






THE UNSEALED BOOK. 275 

"What positive proof have I, white-robed angel, that I am not 
dead ? The reply comes. i Speak, young man, and the exercise 
of your attributes will dictate to you whether you have life or 
whether you are dead/ I am youthful — only eighteen years old. 
I feel as if something very mysterious had crossed the pathway 
of my young life. I have not power to define it. In general 
feature this place where I am is like the one which I left. I am 
a stranger among you ; as such treat me. There is vacancy with 
me which nothing in this life seems to fill. I am not any nearer 
to God than I was before. I realize now that I did not pay suf- 
ficient attention to the laws of my physical nature. Let all who 
are kindred to me cease from weeping and mourning, for all in 
good time I will grow in knowledge of the laws of this life, and 
will thus grow in happiness." 

" There is sorrow and mourning and grief in the household 
over my death. I feel peculiarly strange. I scarce can realize 
that from death comes life, but so it is. I have all the attri- 
butes of the living man. I have sight, feeling, and hearing. 
1 More blessed to give than to receive ' — thus I hand down the 
biblical record. From death comes life, when one in his youth- 
ful days acquaints himself with the laws of God as well as the 
laws of man. Mother, believe me, I am not dead, but alive. 
Mother, believe me, I do not speak from the grave, but from the 
blue sky, in the heavens where the white-robed angels have con- 
verted me to their work. A fair spirit bids me come and com- 
mune as best I may, saying that it will give me enhanced pleasure 
in my new life." 

" Art thou balanced well in mind [addressing a spirit] to ask 
me to say ' farewell, vain world, I bid adieu to thee and those I 
love?' No, I cannot say it. I almost feel angered with the 
author of my being for having built me up intellectually and sur- 
rounded me with wealth, and given everything ,to make life 
pleasant and happy, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, as it 
were, to take all from me and cast me into a world that I stand 
in ignorance of. I am not capable of judging, nor do I wish to 
be judged. Give me back life — life on earth, with all my physi- 
cal ailments ; earth was more pleasant to me than is all this vast 
country. Father, in your sorrow you may weep, for your son is 



276 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

dead, dead to the world he has left, and dead to the one he has 
entered. Let the curtain fall, and let me sleep that sleep which 
will never have an awakening. Yes, write it out, and after you 
have written it close the page, and let it moulder away as will 
the body of myself. I cannot do it justice, nor can I have justice 
done me. I am the son of one whose crowning point is wealth" 

t 
" How sweet, how calm to die and to be resurrected into life. 
I found a new and beautiful life 'over the river.' Gladsome 
friends met me, and we rejoiced together over one more new 
birth. Our Father, who art in heaven, hath dealt kindly, gra- 
ciously with his new-born child. He, by his instruments, has 
taught me that I am not a mere worm of the earth, that I have 
an existence in this world that brings with it beauty and utility, 
not only to myself but to those whom I have left behind me. 
Kindred and friends, if you can read these lines, you will find 
that I am not dead, but alive, living in that world where death 
never enters. I am told by one who is a worker among the 
spirits to come hither and unfold my life beyond the grave. 
Many mourn me dead. In seeing this they will recognize that I 
have the attributes of life, and with those attributes power to speak 
again to those whom I have left behind me. Farewell." 

A. J. Davis says : " Believe not that what is called death, is a 
final termination of human existence, nor that the change is so 
thorough and entire as to alter or destroy the constitutional pe- 
culiarities of the individual : but believe righteously that death 
causes as much alteration in the condition of the individual, as 
the bursting of the rose-bud causes in the situation and condition 
of the flower. Death is only an event, a circumstance, in the 
eternal life and experience of the soul. As the death of the germ 
is necessary to the birth and development of the flower, so is the 
death of man's physical body an indispensable precedent and in- 
dication of his spiritual birth or resurrection. . . . Night and 
sleep, correspond to physical death ; but the brilliant day and hu- 
man wakefulness, correspond to spiritual birth and individual 
elevation." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 277 



WILL WONDERS NEVER CEASE? 

" One night, while Joseph Jefferson was acting Eip Van Win- 
kle, he lost all consciousness of where he was ; when he came to 
himself, he started as though from a sound sleep, and finishing 
his scene mechanically, rushed up to some one in the wings, and 
asked them what had happened, — had he made some dreadful 
blunder? No one had noticed anything; yet Jefferson avers 
that he was not there in spirit, from the early part of the per- 
formance, to the late stage of the representation, when he ' awoke ' 
and found himself toujours Eip. After this it is not surprising 
that Mr. Jefferson should declare that he plays the character un- 
der spiritualistic influences/' 



THE POPE A MEDIUM. 

The Courier de Bruxelles gives the following account of a 
miraculous cure affected lately by his Holiness Pius IX. 

"A religieuse of the Order of the Sacred Heart, the Rev. 

Mother Julia N , daughter of one of the most distinguished 

diplomats of Belgium, after a violent nervous attack, had her 
right arm so completely paralyzed that it had to be bandaged to 
boards for support. Her finger-nails had become black, and the 
bones of the fingers and elbow had become displaced and, as it 
were, dislocated. 

In vain had the medical men prescribed change of air. At 
Vienna, where she first betook herself, afterward at Rome, where 
she arrived about the end of September, the disease assumed even 
a more aggravated form. The sufferer, nevertheless, cherished a 
secret hope that she would be cured, and through her being at 
Rome, if she could but see the Holy Father. She obtained an 
audience on October 19. The Holy Father, at first surprised at 
the request for cure that had been made him, and wishing, too, 
perhaps to try the faith of the invalid, said to her : < My daughter, 
I have not the gift of miracles.' But he immediately added, ' Put 
your trust in God, for nothing is impossible to his mercy.' 

However, as the religious ladies, and especially the niece of the 
Holy Father, besought him that he himself would deign to com- 
mend the sick person to God, and to bless her, the Pope became 



278 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

for an instant recollected in prayer, his hands joined, and his 
eyes raised to heaven ; then addressing the invalid, he said, * My 
daughter, have faith — that faith which moves mountains.' 

He several times repeated the same words to her, and, having 
asked her name, he took occasion from it to insist anew on faith. 
6 St. Julia,' he said, 'gave her life for Jesus Christ, and she proved 
by her martyrdom how ardent was her faith.' Having then 
taken the ring' of the religious profession which the invalid 
wore on her left hand, the Holy Father blessed it, and made her 
place it on the finger of her right hand. ' At that very instant,' 
the Eev. Mother Julia asserts, ' I felt life return to the paralyzed 
part, and the blood resumed its circulation throughout the entire 
arm.' 

The Pope then bade her make the sign of the cross; bnt, as 
instinctively, and by the force of habit, she was about to make it 
with the left hand. ' No, no, not like that ! ' said the Holy 
Father; 'the sign of the cross must be made with the right 
hand — the Catholic sign of the cross.' And, in fact, the Rev. 
Mother Julia was able to sign herself with the right hand, al- 
though still hesitating, and with some difficulty. 

At the bidding of the Holy Father she made a second sign of 
the cross, and this time without the smallest hesitation, and in a 
perfect manner. She was cured. On her return to the Villa 
Santa she was able to write, on the same day, a long letter of 
thanks to the Holy Father, and she wrote it with the very hand 
which shortly before was paralyzed. The cure is complete. The 
finger-nails have recovered their natural color, and the bones of 
the fingers and arms have resumed their normal position." 

" A worthy Jewish family by the name of Hydeman, residing 
at 59 Lancaster Street, Albany, N. Y., have a lovely daughter, 
now about three years of age. Some months since, it fell ill, and 
when partially recovered, had its lower limbs suddenly paralyzed. 
For weeks it sat, an uncomplaining little sufferer, bringing tears 
to the ej r es and anguish to the hearts of its doting parents and 
friends. An excellent family physician was of course a regular 
attendant; but his medicines utterly failed to produce any ef- 
fect. Mrs. and Mr. Hydeman then had the hardihood to try my 
friend, Dr. Smith, who, after twenty-one ' treatments,' using only 
his hands, and no medicine whatever, fully restored the dear 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 279 

little girl to all her former activity and gayety. I called to see 
her, and found her running about the room as if no terrible 
hiatus had ever occurred to mar the merry sound of her happy 
hours. 

" A young married lady, residing on the line of railway between 
Baltimore and Washington City, had been for six months in a 
state of mental disturbance that baffled the skill of her physicians. 
Her family were about to send her to an insane asylum, when a 
brother-in-law happened to read a copy of my book, — How and 
Why I Became a Spiritualist, — called on me and asked if I 
thought relief could be obtained through Mrs. D.'s mediumship; 
I promised to submit the case to Spirit Dr. Eush, and let the in- 
quirer know the result. My intention was to mention this appli- 
cation as soon as I reached home : but becoming interested in other 
matters, I ommittcd to do so. When seated at the dinner table, 
Dr. Eush controlled Mrs. Danskin and said, ' I read the condition 
of the patient through your magnetism and that of her friend ; 
tell him to bring her to your home as speedily as possible.' The 
next morning the patient came, in care of her sister, who said that 
she had not slept more than two hours and a half at any one time 
during the previous six months. A diagnosis of the case was 
given, stating that in giving birth to a child there had been a loss 
of animal magnetism, which deranged the action of the vital 
forces, and made her susceptible to disturbing influences ; she was 
almost immediately thrown into a deep magnetic slumber, which 
lasted six hours. Medicines magnetically prepared were admin- 
isteredj and in less than two months the equilibrium of mind and 
body were restored, and she who would probably have become a 
raving maniac in the atmosphere and among the influences of an 
insane asylum, was restored to her friends, and is now a healthy, 
beautiful, and accomplished woman/' 

"A MURDERER EXPOSED BY SPIRITS." 
[Taken from the Banner of Light.] 

" The English secular papers, recently, were filled with extended 
reports of the detection, trial, and execution of Henry Wainwright, 
for the murder of Harriet Lane, her remains having been cut into 
several pieces and wrapped in a sack, wherein they were discov- 



280 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

ered in a most remarkable manner. While not wishing to go 
through with the harrowing details of the crime, we desire to 
place on record on this side the Atlantic, the fact that the act was 
revealed through the most unmistakable intervention of spirit 
power, always supposing Mr. Alfred P. Stokes to have spoken and 
written truthfully concerning the warning he received. The 
matter can best be conveyed to the mind of the reader in the fol- 
lowing extract from Mr. Stokes' letter to Wainwright, after the 
death-sentence had been passed on the latter. 

' I feel that I must write to you, to say that I trust that you 
will not consider that what I have done or said against you was 
either said or done from any personal malice tow r ard' you, or that 
I was lacking in friendship toward you because I could not bring 
myself to any endeavor to try and screen you ; on the contrary, 
I and all to whom I have spoken, who were formerly in your em- 
ployment, have always esteemed you as a kind and good master, 
and always a most generous friend ; God and yourself only know 
how much you were concerned in the terrible crime laid to your 
charge : but I do hope and trust that you will consider that in 
giving any evidence against you, I only fulfilled a national 
duty, which I believe was the will of God, and which I know was 
done in the interest of humanity. When I say that it was the 
will of God, I must now tell you more of the details of the strange 
promptings I had to open the parcel, than I have hitherto made 
public. 

Perhaps you think, as I know many in the world think, that I 
was only moved by a base and a prying curiosity. But I can as- 
sure you, between myself and God, that it was not that, but that 
I, in reality, was urged, as it were, by a strange, mysterious agency, 
for which I can scarcely account. Probably the world may laugh, 
and you, too, at what I am now going to tell you, but I declare it 
to be true. Ifc has caused me, more than ever, to be convinced 
that there is a God and a superhuman power around us, and I 
hope it will cause you to think so, too. These unaccountable 
promptings began the very moment you left me with that frightful 
bundle, whilst you went to fetch the cab. The very instant your 
bach was turned, I seemed to hear a supernatural voice say to me, 
three times, as distinctly as though it were a human voice some- 
where near me, ( Open that parcel! Open that parcel ! Look in 
that parcel! I at first thought that perhaps you were carrying 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 281 

away hair or something, not belonging to you, and I hesitated 
what I should do. I seemed to hear the voice again, and then felt 
pressed on, by an irresistable impulse, to open it. I immediately 
rent it open. The head and hands came up together, and as I stood 
for a moment, aghast at the mutilated head, so grim, and yet ap- 
parently so pitiable, thinking over and puzzling what I should say 
to you when you came lack, I seemed instantly possessed and con- 
trolled by a power and agency, by a cautionary prudence and energy 
not my own, and certainly not natural to me, and then, as I hastily 
closed up the parcel again, thinking that perhaps it would be best 
to say nothing about it, I seemed to hear the same super- 
natural voice address me again, and say, ' Murder ! it is a mur- 
der ! Will you conceal a murder ? ' I then said, ( No, not for my 
own father ! Oh, pray, God, direct me aright ; but shall I give 
up the very best friend I have had in my life ? ' You then came 
up with the cab, took the parcels, and drove away. As I stood 
for a moment in utter consternation, with my hair feeling as 
though it stood erect on my head, / immediately seemed to hear 
the same voice again addressing me, and saying, ' Follow the cab ! 
follow the cab !' I at once did so. I set on to run as though I 
was propelled along. I ran till I nearly dropped from exhaustion, 
and certainly seemed sustained by a strength superior to my own. 
Thus, from the remembrance of the strange, inexplicable power 
which so suddenly overruled me, I feel convinced that I was really 
destined to be the humble medium by which that mysterious and 
barbarous murder was to be brought to light. Had I been left to 
my own natural impulse in the matter, the probability is that the 
crime would not have been so fully detected. Under these cir- 
cumstances, then, I do trust that you will personally forgive me.' " 

I hope and pray that if I have done amiss in reproducing the 
above statement, God and the angel-world may forgive me; 
for I feel, and have from the moment I commenced writing it, 
as if the spirit of the poor, unfortunate being who committed the 
crime were present, gazing upon me with sad, reproachful eyes. 
God knows that I would not willingly add one pang of bitterness 
to the unutterable woe of such an one, whether in the body or 
out of the body. If there is one class of beings more than an- 
other upon earth, who stand in need of our heartfelt sympathy 
and compassion, it is such as these. We should pity their inhe- 



282 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

rent nature ; for who can tell when or by what means, the germ 
which produces the unseemly fruit was generated or implanted ? 
And who but God can tell which commits the greater sin ; he 
who, — it may be in the heat of passion, — takes the life of a fel- 
low mortal ; or he, — they, we might better say, — who, in cool, 
calculating earnest, take the life of him who perpetrates the cruel 
deed ? 

" I have heard old, observant men, say they have often noticed 
that a violent man would generally die by violence — viewing it 
as a righteous retribution; and also, that when one member of a 
devoted circle or family dies, others are almost certain to follow 
very soon ; and further, that the most amiable and lovely are gen- 
erally selected by death ; hence the old aphorism, ' Death loves a 
shining mark.' I believe this is a prevailing opinion, whether de- 
rived from the Bible or from experience, or from both. If this 
be true, it has a philosopy, but if it has no philosophy, it is false ; 
whether or not we understand the philosopy, is another question. 
Now, as excarnated men or angels can, and do, in certain condi- 
tions, influence men in the flesh to write in any hand, and speak 
in any tongue, and perform any music on any instrument, all un- 
known to them, and also move heavy, ponderable bodies, all 
through a proper medium in rapport, is n't it in accordance with 
the logic of other analogies, and reasonable to suppose, that the 
spirit of the murdered man can find some unconscious medium 
through which to retaliate upon his violent murderer yet in the 
flesh ? or the excarnated loved member of a devoted circle find 
some tractable, unsonant medium, through whom, as an uncon- 
scious instrument, to gather up to his own happy abode, some 
others of his loved jewels left behind him in this plain of sorrows ? 
This is merely suggested as a speculative hypothesis, to verify, 
through philosophy, these old, cherished sentiments, and, if true, 
clear them from the mist of miracle." 

Among the many subtile revelations through Allen Kardee, is 
the most interesting one relative to spirit atmospheres, a vital 
part in the economy of our growth and expansion. He reminds 
us that spirits constitute the invisible population of the globe, 
and that they are everywhere in space and about us, incessantly 
regarding us, and even jostling us, so that when we think our- 
selves alone we are surrounded by secret witnesses not only of 
our actions but of our thoughts. To this unconsidered fact is 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 283 

ascribed the disclosure of so many wrong deeds whose authors 
had thought it impossible for the world to find out. In any as- 
sembly there are invisible listeners as well as those in the body ; 
an unlimited number may occupy a given space. At seances, the 
atmosphere may be said sometimes to be saturated with their 
fluidic aura. This aura which emanates from spirits is whole- 
some according to the degrees of their purity. Its healing proper- 
ties in certain cases are well attested, as also the morbid effect upon 
some individuals. Therefore, the presence of a multitude of 
spirits cannot fail to exercise an influence on the physical as well 
as the moral health of any assembly. This influence is good or 
bad as the spirits emit healthy or unwholesome aura. It acts 
like the life-giving emanations of one locality, or the deadly 
miasma of another. This is enough to explain the collective ef- 
fects which are produced on large bodies of individuals ; also the 
state of tranquility or of uneasiness which we all of us experience 
in certain companies, without knowing the secret cause of it. 

It also explains the force of those impulses toward good or 
evil, which are felt by assemblies of people. Every individual 
feels this influence according to the degree of his sensibility, 
whether his surrounding spirit atmosphere is foul or vivifying. 
For this reason, our constant intercourse with the spirit-world 
discloses the existence of a principle of spiritual hygiene, to which 
science will some day give its serious attention, and plume itself 
on having made a new discovery. The great pomt to be con- 
sidered in this matter is the necessity for our health, physical 
and moral, of being surrounded with a healthy spiritual atmos- 
phere ; and in connection with it, of course, the possibility of our 
driving off and destroying a pestiferous, miasmatic atmosphere, 
emanating from evil spirits and low ones, and securing only 
healthy conditions for the growth of our natures. 

As our own thoughts and sentiments prevail to make the 
choice of the kind of spirits for us, it is plain that we have but 
to discipline these in order to draw to us the sweetest and purest 
atmosphere for our spirits to breathe, and for our bodies to re- 
ceive their influence. We should avoid the contact of unhealthy 
spiritual aura as much as we should avoid the miasmatic exhala- 
tions of a swamp. The qualities of the perisprital fluids are in 
correspondence with those of the spirit, in fact of the same char- 
acter, whether the spirit be incarnated or de-incarnated. The 



284 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

more pure and elevated its sentiments, the more refined its fluid. 
The radiating fluids are impregnated with the thoughts which 
rule the mind of an incarnated spirit. They may be invisible to 
the eye of sense, but the soul sees and recognizes them with 
clearness." 

Science took a handful of sand, and constructed a telescope, 
and with it explained the starry depths of heaven. Science 
wrested from the gods their thunderbolts ; and now the electric 
spark, freighted with thought and love, flashes under all the 
waves of the seas. Science took a tear from the cheek of unpaid 
labor, converted it into steam, created a giant that turns with 
tireless arms the countless wheels of toil. — Ingersoll. 

Says Noah Porter, ' The rules of inference and methods of in- 
duction are as truly applied in the occasions of every-day life by 
the humblest of men as by the most consummate scientist.' This 
is a fact which people are apt to leave out of consideration, when 
the question is of the great phenomena of Spiritualism. Then it 
is asked, What man of science has admitted them ? just as if a 
shrewd, intelligent, level-headed mechanic, laborer, sailor, or wood 
ranger, would not be as quick in detecting imposition in the phe- 
nomena of Spiritualism, as the man who had become an expert in 
mathematics, geology, natural history, or astronomy ; or that an 
expert in jugglery like Houdin, who testified to the fetichuman 
character of the phenomena through Mr. Home, was not as com- 
petent as a Tyndal to decide on that question. Much loose think- 
ing prevails on this subject. 

There is a science of Common Sense possessed by the shrewd 
observant man, though he may never have been to college, which 
is more than a match for the tests of a Crooker and a Var- 
ley. The testimony of thousands of clear-headed, imaginative 
investigators, men and women who have looked into the phenom- 
ena, should not be set aside in favor of the comparatively few 
testimonials of acknowledged scientists. The latter have their 
value, but the truth of Spiritualism has been established by the 
concurrent testimony of thousands, who claim merely the science 
of common sense, a healthy organization, and a mind not likely 
to be misled by chimeras, or duped by impostures. 

Let us not forget, in estimating probabilities, to attach some 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 285 

little value to this science of common sense ; day by day mediums 
who have been denounced by superficial investigators, and pre- 
tenders to science, as frauds, are proving the genuineness of their 
mediumship. He who thinks to arrive at just conclusions on this 
great subject of Spiritualism, through his having detected what 
seem to him a few suspicious circumstances at a seance, may live 
to find that truth lies somewhat deeper than he had supposed, 
and that the imposition was not in the medium, nor in the phe- 
nomena, hut in his own hasty and untrained judgment,, and super- 
ficial attainments. Again, Epes Sargent truly remarks in his 
Keply to Tyndall, ' Even if it were proved that two thirds of those 
persons believed to be genuine mediums, though subject to hu- 
man frailties, like Mrs. Holway, the Edelys, and others, had occa- 
sionally in the absence of supposed spirit help, resorted to 
imposture, or that all their manifestations were frauds, it ivould 
not impair the force of the great, irresistable tody of thoroughly 
tested facts, on which, Modern Spiritualism is based.' To attempt 
to set aside these irresistable facts, by quoting some insignificant 
failure, or some attempted fraud, real or apparent, is an absurdity 
to those who know the beautiful realities that have been abun- 
dantly proved, and have stood the test of persistent investigation 
now for more than a quarter of a century." 

Gail Hamilton says this to the clergy : " There is, and there 
can be, no conflict between scientific truth and religious truth. 
Scientific men so far as they are honest, and religious men so 
far as they are honest, are in pursuit of one and the same 
object" 

We will next insert a few questions propounded by J. H. Harter, 
and responded to by J. M. Peebles. We can scarcely forbear to 
here say a few words in commendation of this earnest, eloquent, 
and devoted worker, whom the heavenly intelligences have en- 
joined to "go into all the world and preach the gospel," and who, 
as all may opine from the angelic character of his replies, seems 
imbued with the true spirit of the holy Nazarene. 

" Please give me your definition of Spiritualism ? 
Spiritualism, as generally understood, implies a conscious in- 
tercourse with the inhabitants of the spirit world; in a broader 



286 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

and better sense, Spiritualism is a phenomenon, a science, and a 
religion, kindling in all sensitive souls the loftiest endeavor, the 
holiest aspirations. 

What relation, in your estimation, does Spiritualism bear to 
Christianity ? 

If by Christianity you mean the moral teachings and spiritual 
marvels of Jesus Christ, recorded in the New Testament, I have 
to say that Spiritualism and Christianity are in full accord ; their 
relation standing something as bud and blossom upon the revela- 
tor's 'Tree of Life,' .... the leaves of which were for the 'heal- 
ing of the nations.' 

Do Spiritualists, as a class, recognize the necessity and efficacy 
of prayer ? 

Difficult to answer, because of the different conceptions of 
prayer, and the indefinite ideas afloat concerning God. Defining 
prayer to be aspiration, or an up-welling and out-flowing of the 
soul toward all that is good, pure and holy. I am confident 
that all 'Spiritualists, as a class, believe in the necessity and effi- 
cacy of prayer.' And yet there are crusty, crotchety individuals 
who take a chill at the mere mention of prayer. The ' rich man 
in hell ' who ' cried to Father Abraham, ' was possibly one of this 
sort. Though prayer does not change God, nor natural law, it 
does affect all sincere petitioners, besides calling to aid angels and 
ministering spirits, who, under the providence of God, delight to 
answer prayer. Mrs. Conant, entranced, uniformly opened her 
public circles with prayer. Mrs. Tappan, Mrs. Brigham, and 
nearly all of our most successful speakers, commence their meet- 
ings with an invocation. 

Do you blame Ambler, Hayden, S. C.Hayford, Dr. Houghton, 
and other Spiritualist lecturers, for going into the liberal churches 
as preachers ? 

Not in the least. Evidently they had good and sufficient rea- 
sons. They still believe in the ministry of angels and spirits. 
I neither ' blame ' nor condemn anybody. When I am endowed 
with infinite knowledge, and become absolutely perfect, I may pre- 
sume to mount the judgment seat, and deal out condemnation! 
It 's a little galling to at least one of those brothers, to be contin- 
ually criticised and stoned by ' sinners.' 

What would you think of me, Spiritualist as I am, if I should 
settle over a TJniversalist society ? I have been invited to do so 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 287 

since I gave up my letter of fellowship, and left the denomina- 
tion. 

I should ( think' it was your business, not mine. And just 
so far as your aims and motives were good, I should say, God and 
the holy angels bless you. 

Do you consider magic and occultism the keys that unlock the 
wonders of Spiritualism ? 

No. Reverse it, and you have it. Spiritualism, with its multi- 
form phases of mediumship, is the key that unlocks magic, occul- 
tism, and all the marvelous wonders of the Orient. 

Do you accept pre-existence, and re-incarnation as now taught 
by the spirits ? 

Most sincerely do I believe in the pre-existence of the soul. 
Ee-incarnation is another matter. Taught by some, it is denied 
by other spirits. In my case, the testimony is not all in. Touch- 
ing discussion upon this subject, re-incarnationists have shown 
much the best spirit. It is as unwise to denounce as it is impos- 
sible to l scold,' even the wildest theory out of existence. 

Why is there so much evil-speaking, back-biting, and slander 
current among mediums and speakers ? and why are the really 
good, often most persecuted ? 

Evil-speaking, back-biting, and the current slanders to which 
you refer, — necessities of ante-natal tendencies, unbalanced tem- 
peraments, plebeian associations, and darker influences, — are not 
alone peculiar to Spiritualists. A leading character in the ranks 
of the liberal Christian clergy, recently said : 

' There is cannabalism around about us all the time and every- 
where. Not a bird's leg is taken up and counted a more delicious 
morsel, and is more deliberately picked, and chewed, and relished 
in all its juices, than a person's reputation is taken up, and cut, 
and bitten, and sucked dry, and cast out. It is wicked ; it is 
damnable ; it is treason to man and treason to God ; and yet such 
things are common. Why ! men will not carry vermin on their 
heads nor on their bodies. And yet they do carry vermin in their 
souls, crawling and creeping all over them. ... It is high time 
that men should learn to discriminate, and hate these feculent 
vices of detraction, and bitterness, and envy, and jealousy — all 
those elements which spring from the lower regions, and which 
are of the evil spirit.' 

' If thou hast aught against thy brother, or if thy brother tres- 



288 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

pass against thee/ said Jesus, 'go and tell him the fault between 
him and thee alone.' But the modern method, especially with 
those occupying ' damaged social positions,' is generally this : if 
thou hast, or if thou hast heard aught against thy brother or thy 
sister-worker, or thy peer in mediumistic gifts, do not suspend 
judgment — do not wait to hear the other side of the matter, but 
run with the putrid tidbit to others; run, exaggerating and scat- 
tering the slime as you go ; run, magnifying the somber-hued 
shadow into a black crow ; ay, into even three black crows ; run, 
richly and deservedly earning the Carlylean plaudit, ' Ye are one 
of my jewels, saith the Devil ! ' 

Persecutions, though depressing for the moment, really harm 
no one; while all slanderous javelins, ultimately rebounding, 
pierce those that hurled them. ' So long as all that is said, is 
said against me,' says Emerson, e I am sure of success.' * Permit 
a touch of autobiography,' writes A. J. Davis in the Harbinger 
of Light; 

( For years upon years, I, myself, was made the special target 
for every marksman with shot-gun and bow and arrow. It would 
be impolite, not to say profane and vulgar, to put in print the 
stories which refined and wealthy church members, including very 
respectable ministers, privately and publicly circulated against 
me. I was reported and denounced as the walking embodiment 
of all that was vile and satanic' 

And yet, A. J. Davis lives, esteemed and honored ; lives, a fine 
exemplification of the true harmonial man ! But where, where 
are those accusers ? 

Joaquin Miller, when traduced in private and public, preached 
a sensible sermon in the following song : 



Is it worth while to jostle a brother, 
Bearing his load on the rough road of life ? 

Is it worth while that we jeer at each other 
In blackness of heart— that we war to the knife ? 
God pity us all in our pitiful strife. 

God pity us all ! we jostle each other ; 

God pardon us all for the triumph we feel, 
When a fellow goes down 'neath his load on the heather, 

Pierced to the heart ; words are keener than steel, 

And mightier for woe or weal. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 289 

"Were it not well, in this brief little journey 

On over the Isthmus, down into the tide, 
"We give him a fish instead of a serpent, 

E'er folding the hand, to be and abide 

Forever and aye in dust at his side I 

Look at the roses saluting each other ; 

Look at the herds, all in peace on the plain ; 
Man, and man only, makes war on his brother, 

And laughs in his heart at his peril and pain ; 

Shamed by the beasts that go down on the plain, 

Is it worth while, that we battle to humble 
Some poor fellow-soldier down into the dust ? 

God pity us all ! Time oft soon will tumble 
All of us together, like leaves in a gust, 
Humbled indeed, down into the dust. 



Are you in favor of organization among Spiritualists ? 

I am, and ever have been, in favor of organization. A man's 
creed is what he believes ; and a man without any belief is next to a 
nonentity. Our Eepublic, our State governments, our village cor- 
porations, our school districts, our families, are organizations. 
Demolition, disintegration, burning down buildings, leaving the 
inmates without shelter : these are not the highest employments. 
Construction, re-construction, and broad, healthy organizations, 
are among the demands of the age.,, 

J. M. Peebles. 



« There are few men who dare stand alone, or nearly alone, in 
the fore-front of battle for the truth. It is great valor only 
that will carry forward its colors in the face of the enemy, and see 
one's own battalions, unequal to the conflict, falling far behind. 
The crucial test is faith in your own conviction when others falter 
and fail ; few men can stand that. It is common enough to be 
behind your age, and be called conservative. Conservatism is 
highly respectable, and you have plenty of company; but to stand. 
a century before your age, or fifty years before it, for that matter,, 
is a trial endured only by men whom God has made for such 
work, ordained to be reformers. We find such in every age, because 
every age has need of their services." - 



290 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

We will next invite the reader's attention to a few facts con- 
cerning Romanism, by introducing some extracts from " Secrets 
of the Convent and Confessional," by Mrs. Julia M'Nair Wright; 
also the introduction, to said work, by Rev. Daniel March. D.D. 

" Watch the Jesuits, to prevent the robbery of your families, 
the moral assassination of your sons and daughters. 0, good 
Americans, do you suppose they are working for the American 
nation, the American glory? They work for themselves and Rome 
alone." 

GrAVAZZI. 

" In this free and enlightened land of ours then is an organi- 
zation which takes a sacred name, and assumes to speak for God 
to the people ; and yet, in spirit, it is directly hostile to our most 
cherished institutions, and its one persistent study, purpose, and 
effort, is to undermine the foundations of our Republic, and set 
up the throne of despotism upon the ruin of our liberties. It 
must needs be watched with a vigilant eye, and restrained with a 
strong hand, or it will accomplish its purpose while the guardians 
of the public welfare suspect no danger. It is foreign in its origin, 
secret and subtile in its policy, pious and pitiful in tone, and yet 
it is ever intent upon a deep-laid and remorseless conspiracy 
against the sacred rights and the blood-bought privileges of the 
American people. It is the more dangerous because it numbers 
good men among its supporters and apologists, and it speaks the 
language of liberty and enlightenment while plotting the subjec- 
tion of the people to ignorance, superstition and bondage. 

It is an organization of vast extent and mighty power, number- 
ing millions of members, and more millions of money : and all its 
resources are subject to the control of an irresponsible despot, 
whose home is in a foreign land, and who hates republican insti- 
tutions with a perfect hatred. That one man acknowledges no 
allegiance to the laws of our land, no obligation to regard the 
demands of truth and justice, any farther than may be for his 
advantage ; and he claims the right to extend the same immunity 
to whomsoever he may please. He can make it right for men to 
do wrong, and wrong for men to do right ; he can make falsehood 
the handmaid of truth, and clothe truth in the garments of false- 
hood, and from his decision there can be no appeal ; the code of 
morality by which his adherents are governed, makes a merit of 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 291 

deception, adorns the transgression of natural laws with names of 
virtue, and gives holy garments to the guilty as a cover from 
crime. 

The members of this dark and dreadful conclave are sworn to use 
the sacred right of citizenship in every possible way, to establish 
in this country a despotism which holds reason and conscience, 
body and soul, in abject and hopeless bondage; they know noth- 
ing of home : they make a merit of abjuring all the sacred rela- 
tions of the family, and yet they claim the right to come between 
the husband and the wife, the parent and the child, and to pre- 
scribe laws that invade the privacy of every household, and over- 
rule the dictates of humanity and affection in every family. They 
claim for their organization immaculate purity, divine enlighten- 
ment, an infallible wisdom, and yet they ascribe divine honors to 
profligates, and act upon a policy that originated in the dark ages : 
and they put forth all their power to hold the world in subjection 
to the shams of hypocrisy, and the shadows of superstition ; they 
secure large appropriations of public money for support of insti- 
tutions, which they manage with dark and suspicious secrecy, 
giving no account of funds received, shutting out the public and 
shutting in the inmates with barred doors and bolted windows. 
They say that the supreme control of education in the family, 
and the school, belongs of right to them : and yet they forbid his- 
tory to tell its plain unvarnished tale to our children; they burn 
the Book which our fathers brought to this country, as the divine 
charter of our liberties ; they belittle the mind, and degrade the 
manhood of their pupils with senseless ceremonies and petty tyr- 
anny, and they send them forth to the world without ever having 
taught them the noble lessons of manliness, truthfulness, and 
patriotism. 

This book is designed to reveal the mischief and the mystery 
of this dark and dangerous organization to the eyes of the Amer- 
ican people. It is written by one who knows ; a thin veil of fic- 
tion is cast upon the face of the monster, lest all should turn 
from the hideous reality and refuse to gaze. The fiction is fact, 
and the facts at the close are stranger than the fiction. Whoso 
readeth, let him understand. 

Daniel March. 

Philadelphia, April, 1872. 



292 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

" On, on, in the still night sails the ship of Rome, the Jesuits 
at the helm. Her freight is human souls, crowding her decks and 
gangways and cabins by the million; ropes of sand her cordage; 
rotten her sails ; her lading, secrets black as hell, and sighs, and 
tears, and crimes, which make the devils shriek with joy: human 
tradition her erring compass, she steers along oyer dangerous 
seas for what full many lorn spirits aboard of her think the shin- 
ing celestial gate, but which is indeed the lurid mouth of the pit. 
And so at last is she doomed to make her port in perdition ! 

' The first dream is balmy and bright, 
The next dream is mellow in light, 
The third dream is dim to the sight — 
And it stretcheth away into gloomy night.' 

Is Eomanism well enough for those that believe it ? Is the 
man doing well enough if he only lives up to his doctrines ? 

By no means. The nearer he keeps to his doctrines, the worse 
the man. Eomish doctrines are immoral ; they are the antipodes 
of the decalogue. The best men in their church are those who 
hold most loosely her tenets. Eomanism partakes of every error 
under heaven. Eomanists are atheists when they avouch the in- 
infallibility of Leo Tenth, who cried, * 0, how profitable has this 
fable of Jesus been to us ! ' They are deists in denying the su- 
preme authority of a revelation; Mohammedans in extending 
their Church by fire and sword; heathens in their worship of 
images. When atheists, deists, Mohammedans and pagans are 
right, Eomanists will be right — never before. What is their 
morality ? It is this : that a man may live an adulterer for twelve 
shillings sixpence; he may murder a layman for seven shillings 
sixpence. He may, by papal pardon, be discharged from obedi- 
ence to God, says Bellarmine. A true Catholic, living up to his 
Church's doctrines, must be an idolater (in the Mass and in im- 
age worship) ; he must be persecutor, believing that the rights of 
heretics and individuals are not to be respected ; he must be a 
traitor, holding the Pope's will superior to civil law, an opinion 
which Vattel, in his Law of Nations, tells us is ' equally contrary 
to the law of nations and the principles of common policy ' ; he 
must feel it needful to break the ten commandments for expedi- 
ency's sake ; and yet in the face of all this, we are obliged to ac- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 293 

cept him as a good Christian. All the men of that communion 
are not idolaters, persecutors, traitors, and immoral; but it is be- 
cause they are better than their religion, and have not learned 
these, its depths of Satan. 

That doctrine of celibacy is the curse as it is the article of Rome. 
Their own authors have said that if you sweep away the celibacy 
of the clergy, you destroy the Confessional; and when the Con- 
fessional has perished, the power of Rome is annihilated. Cardi- 
nal Rodolf and others, as Paolo, have argued that in sacerdotal 
celibacy is the foundation of the supremacy of the Pope. Mar- 
riage connects men to their civil rulers and their native land. 
Celibacy transfers their religion to the Popedom. 

Your Church forces men into an unnatural mode of life ; they 
take their vows at an early age, when they do not apprehend their 
own character; they may find, after a time, that they have as- 
sumed obligations which it is impossible for them to keep, and 
their Church also furnishes opportunities unlimited for trampling 
on these obligations. My charge against you lies here : Your 
Church condemns her priest to an unnatural form of existence ; 
she puts temptation in his way, and says if he falls, est veniale ; 
therefore we charge your Church with the sins of her priesthood. 

Immorality in the Eoman Church commenced with her con- 
fessors. The confessional is to the young, unmarried priest a sug- 
gestor of impurities; there he contracts the stain; outward from 
the confessional it travels, until it is scattered over every hearth, 
met in every cross-way. 

But the Popish Church has her particular code of morality, 
what is called ' Moral Theology,' and that, in brief, is the word of 
man substituted for the law of God. I can not now quote all the 
immoralities allowed by this code, but, as an instance, it allows 
lies, swearing under mental reservation, perjury, to deceive 
our brtehren for a good end. It allows all manner of deceit under 
this pretext : for example, to appear a Protestant, amoug Protes- 
tants, though really a Roman Catholic. For purposes of conver- 
sion this is permitted; sometimes it is obligatory. One great 
maxim of this Moral Theology is, that a man may do evil if he 
hope good shall result from it ; and another (the great Jesuitical 
secret) is, that the end sanctifies the means. Therefore, if for 
the spread of the Gospel it were judged necessary to kill the hon- 
orable President, Senate, and Representatives of the United States, 



294 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

these horrible crimes find their full justification in this most 
Moral Theology. 

I cannot, according to my promise, clearly speak here of the 
effect on the confessor himself, because that effect is to make him 
most immoral : that is the natural effect ; if he remains moral, 
this is an exception. A young man becomes a priest : at twenty-five 
he may be a parish priest in a country place ; there is prob- 
ably no other confessor, and in a few months he becomes absolute 
master of his parishioners. He is no Sampson, and even if he 
were, Sampson was tempted by Delilah. What becomes of him ? 
Does confession make him immoral ? ' no ! ' answer Catholics, 
1 because we have from the Bible, To the pure all things are pure.' 
Are they pure ? Take firstly the practice of the confessional as it 
is seen in the Churches, and tell me if there be public light of 
purity ? to say nothing about confessors, when they go to confess 
young ladies, not always on their dying beds, but always with the 
greatest mystery ; to say nothing about confessors who confess 
women in their own clerical rooms, where there are no spies or 
visitors ; to say nothing about confessors who have in their 
churches some secret little cabinet for privileged female penitents. 
I have gone to a mass-house, and could not enter it, for outside, 
kneeling, lolling, or lounging about the doors, was a legion of 
Irishmen, devoted guards of this temple during service, which 
they prefer to assist from outside ; so that there was no entering 
for any one. 

Lastly, the confessor is a holy man I Well, I do not deny that ; 
but he is always a man. To evade the charge of exaggeration on 
this point, take, for example, the last period of France. In less 
than ten years we find more than twenty-four trials of priests, all 
confessors, many of them parish priests, guilty of immorality, se- 
duction, poisoning, murder, assassination; and, on their trials, 
they clearly stated that the beginning of the passion was in the 
confessional. I speak of twenty-four trials, all for immoralities, 
seduction of girls and young wives, of all which the seed was 
sown in the confessional. Therefore, it is immoral in its effects; 
ruinous, first to the priest himself, then to the families. 

" A Priest's Opinion of the Confessional. — Before I go any fur- 
ther, I must confess, before God and men, with a blush on my face, 
and regret in my heart, that I have been, like you and with you, 
plunged twenty-three years in that bottomless sea of iniquity, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 295 

through which the poor blind priests of Rome have to swim day 
and night. 

I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous questions which 
the Church of Eome forces every priest to leam. I had to put 
those impure, immoral questions to the old and young females 
who were confessing their sins to me. Those questions, you 
know it, are of such a nature, that no prostitute would dare 
put them to another! Those questions, and the answers they 
elicit, are so debasing that no man in London, you know it, ex- 
cept a priest of Rome, is sufficiently lost to every nerve of shame 
as to put them to any woman. 

I was bound in conscience, as you are bound to-day, to put into 
the ears, the mind, the imagination, the heart, and the soul of 
females, questions of such a nature, the immediate and direct 
tendency of which, you know it, is to fill the mind, the memory, 
and the hearts of both priests and females with thoughts, phan- 
toms and temptations of such a degrading nature, that I do not 
know any words adequate to express them. Pagan antiquity has 
never seen any institution so polluting to both soul and body as 
the confessional. I know nothing more corrupting than the law 
which forces a female to tell all her thoughts, desires, and most 
secret feelings and actions to an unmarried priest. The confes- 
sional is a school of perdition. You may deny that before the 
Protestants, but you cannot deny it before me. 

My dear Mr. Brazere, if you call me a degraded man, a de- 
graded priest, because I have lived twenty-three years in the at- 
mosphere of the confessional, you are right. I was a degraded 
man, just as you are yourself, in spite of your denials. If you 
call me a degraded priest, because my heart, my soul, mind, as 
your own are to-day, were plunged into those deep waters of in- 
iquity which flow from the confessional, I confess ' guilty ! ' I 
was degraded and polluted by the confessional, just as you and 
all of the priests of Rome are. " Chiniquy's Letter to Mr. Brazere, 
Montreal, 1871. 

For example we cite the following touching conversation be- 
tween mother and daughter, the latter having been betrayed by a 
priest who really loved her, and after years of mental anguish, 
resigned his priesthood, and made for her and their child a happy 
home. 



296 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

"Nell entered the little room, once so bright and love-full; 
now she was bringing it a shadow which should rest upon it 
for evermore. 

'0, darling, how pale and worn you look!' This was her 
mother's greeting. 

Nell threw herself on the bed and turned her face to the wall. 

* Are you sick, my precious ? ' asked the mother, dropping her 
work and bending over her idol. 

6 Sick, mother, sick at heart,' said the girl, with a quick sob. 

1 Nell, Nell dearest, what troubles you ? ' 

' Mother,' said Nell, growing wonderfully calm, and speaking 
clearly, with her face still turned away, ' sit down here on the bed, 
but do not touch me mother, only answer me. If one does wrong, 
shall they live and break hearts that love them, or shall they drop 
down in some deep river and hide their own wretchedness ?' 

Mrs. I felt as if a sudden cold wind blew across her, and 

sent back her blood in a chill current to her heart ; she faltered, 
' Whatever they do, they must take life as God's mercy ; live and 
repent.' 

' If I become no longer your comfort, but your curse, mother, 
should I go and hide myself somewhere where you would be bur- 
dened by me no more, or should I stay with you still? Which 
would be easiest for you, my poor mother ? ' 

' Whatever happened, or could happen, you should stay with me, 

my child, my beloved,' said Mrs. I , huskily. But now her 

hands lay rigid in her lap, and the blood around her heart was 
freezing very fast ; her pulses scarcely stirred. 

'If one,' said Nell, her voice growing hard now, ( one whom you 
thought an angel, a glorious saint, one who was your guide and 
counsellor, whom you never doubted, never questioned, always 
obeyed as bound to obey, led you into evil, and then, when you 
came to rouse up, and see that what you had been told to be right 
was wrong, and that sin is sin, whoever says not, cried Nell, 
fiercely, ' then, then after that if he said to you, There are sister- 
hoods where you can go in and never come out, only you must 
not let your mother know ; if he bid you so deceive, and leave 
to doubt and misery the mother who had been your one true 
friend in all the world ; if he even got to saying, it was better to 
drop down into the river, and he would buy your masses : then, 
mother, could you believe him or think he was good forever more ? ' 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 297 

The summer day was warm and bright, but Mrs. I no 

longer felt as if she had part in the sunny stir of life about her ; 
she had gone suddenly down into a dark and loathsome crypt, and 
found all her love, her hope, her peace, her future, buried there. 
She was far away from human sympathy and helping ; all seemed 
darkness and isolation ; then a blessed insensibility was stealing 
over her: might she be lost to the world even for a little time ? 
But no, the one voice that had power over her, the wailing voice 
of her child, reached her. 

1 Mother ! what shall I do ? ' 

' Trust only me, your mother, my poor child.' 

' Can you care for me any more, for me being now only a shame 
and a curse and a burden to you ? But mother, mother, you told 
me every day how good he was ; you bid me trust him and obey 
him ; you called him our best friend, our benefactor, for whom 
no gratitude of our hearts was enough. mother, do you under- 
stand me ? Do you see all the misery that is past and is to come, 
more than all the dark days before he helped us ? ' 

For one wild instant the widow felt as if she must cry out to 
God to let her die, to take her from a world that held for her no 
further good; but the thought of her unhappy daughter who 
now needed her more than ever she had done since she lay, a 
new-born infant at her breast, checked the despairing petition. 
To know her child's life blighted, ruined, would surely be misery 

enough ; but to Mrs. I came the added sting that all her faith 

in humanity was crushed, that almost her faith in heaven was 
destroyed. Gratitude, reverence, devotion had been poured forth 
at the feet of this man who had appeared, in the best sense, her 
friend and guide, and he had proved false ; he had given her ma- 
terial help and comfort, but he had plundered her of her one 
treasure, her one consolation. He had destroyed her dearer life ; 
he had blackened her honest name; he had done this in the 
guise of a religious instructor ! " 

And what says the holy bishop to whom he must needs con- 
fess his crime ? 

" < My son, you have deeply pained me. Did I not warn you 
one day last winter ? Have I not set before you the dignity and 
beauty of self-control? Have you never learned that he who 
denies himself for the Church's sake in this present life shall re- 
ceive tenfold more in the life to come ? Are you of those who 



298 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

have deliberately counted the cost, and resolved to seize what you 
could in this world and give up the future glory ? ' 

The reverend bishop paused. He grew deadly pale, grasped 
the back of a chair to steady himself, and, with a strong effort, 
continued his speech. Uzzah thoughtlessly laid polluting hand 
on the sacred ark, and died. Bishop Otto, trembling at his sac- 
rilege, but deliberate in it, now rebuked his priest from the word 
of God, which word should have smitten his daring lips with palsy. 

6 Whoso causeth one of these little ones to offend, it were better 
for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he 
were cast into the depths of the sea. There are others that may 
talk to you of expediency, Mr. French ; I tell you what I know to 
be right ; I preach to you virtue and religion.' 

' And you practise it in your life ! * cried Father French, with 
the ardor of sincere conviction. 

6 And I practise it in my life,' repeated the bishop, with that 
little tremor again. ' And if I can so practise, why cannot you ? 
Behold the example that I set you/ 

The bishop drew himself up, and stood beautiful and impres- 
sive as when he stood in the pulpit, and saints and heretics 
flocked to hear his sermon, and cried out, ' How holy a man is 
Bishop Otto!' 

' Like Paul, I need not commend myself to you, but bear with 
me a little in my folly. I boast not myself in things beyond our 
measure; receive my example; I have wronged no man; I am 
known as not behind the very chiefest of the prelates of our 
Church in labor and example. Do not wonder that the Church 
puts on her ministers such abundant glory, for it is needful when 
Satan transforms his emissaries to angels of light. Be such an 
one as I have been; what is possible to me is possible to you. I 
do not condemn you. Let this pain of the present be the lesson 
of the future. Go, and sin no more.' 

It was thus that Bishop Otto rebuked, exhorted and pardoned 
Father French." 

Afterward, fearing he would be unable to withstand tempta- 
tion, or even worse — leave the Church — 

" The bishop sent for Priest French, and with the suavity of 
one conferring a great and unexpected favor, informed him of a 
projected mission to Eome. In vain did Father French plead 
that he was greatly needed at Visitation ; that Father Perry cov- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 299 

eted the place now offered to himself ; that his own health was 
infirm, and he dreaded fatigue and a change of climate. All was 
useless; with an amiable persistency that nothing could counter- 
vail, Bishop Otto expressed his fixed resolve to send the envoy of 
his choice. Father French was not prepared at once to defy his 
superior; the chains of habit were firmly upon him; he must 
have time to consider, but this he did not indicate; he only 
avowed his respect, his obedience and his gratitude, and with- 
drew. He needed a counsellor, and to whom could he turn but 
to the Abbess Catharine ? 

To the Convent of the Holy Family, therefore, our Priest bent 
his steps. In the Convent, favored, as usual, with a private inter- 
view, he unfolded his troubles and the plottings of bishop and 
priest to his sacred sister. 

' Well, it would be a pleasant trip,' said Catharine ; ' I enjoyed 
my mission to Rome wonderfully well. Saw many of the cardi- 
nals, bishops and vicars-general, and was magnificently enter- 
tained.' 

' I cannot go,' said French, impatiently. * I tell you, abbess, 
I am so bound to this city that I cannot leave it.' 

The abbess raised her eyebrows, 'The golden hair — ' 

French flushed. ' Yes, yes, I tell you, I cannot go.' 

' Truly, I am ashamed of you, Louis,' said Catharine Illuminata. 

* I swear to you,' cried French, ' that I have never seen one of 
them, except her, by accident, and then I did not speak. I have 
been careful, my sister ; but I feel that being here, I may shield 
those innocent unfortunates from some trouble, and ' — looking 
still more embarrassed — 'I may be able to do something for him 
when he grows.' 

' Eh ? Your nephew ? ' said the abbess, with emphasis 

'My nepheiv' replied French. 'As I said, I cannot go; and 
how avoid it ? ' 

'Go,' said Catharine; 'it will not take you long; a year will 
bring you back, my friend ; and while you are gone I will take 
your place in caring, at a distance and in secret, for those people ; 
I will be kind to them. You may trust me, Louis ; indeed I will 
be truly kind.' 

' Catharine,' said French, in a voice of agony, ' I tell you, if I go 
I shall never cotne back. You know how it is ; I may go with 
commendations and instructions in my pocket, but following me 



300 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

by secret means will go condemnations and other instructions ; 
and my life may go out in darkness. How many have you and I 
known of clerics and of seculars, of priests and of sisters, who 
have, as the dying, travelled to a bourne whence there is no re- 
turn ! ' 

* But they had enemies, Louis.' 

' And who can be sure that he has no enemies ? Besides, it is 
not only enmity that does it, but a man may be suspected of 
being unsettled. How many of my brother priests in the city 
may aspire to my position ? some woman, revered, may have filled 
the bishop's ear with calumnies ; Otto may consider me aspiring, 
though heaven knows I do not covet his place. I tell you, Cath- 
arine, I can not go ; for if I do, I shall never return.' 

' Then indeed you must not go, Louis/ said the Superior.' 

' Catharine, help me ' ! pleaded the distracted priest. 

In the first part of the interview, the Superior had been the 
indolent, capricious, admiration-demanding, coquette ; she had 
changed to a kindly earnest woman ; now suddenly this chameleon 
character exhibited a new feature: she glowed with keenness, craft, 
and subtile power ; a Pythoness of Rome ! 

' If you choose a physician, my brother, you must take his pre- 
scriptions.' 

* I rely upon you,' said Father French. 

' Go to-morrow to Bishop Otto, and tell him, that having consid- 
ered, you see that your church will, in your absence, thrive under 
his care ; say that you have consulted your physician, who as- 
sures you that this trip will benefit your health ; express your 
gratitude for the distinction proffered you ; tell him you have be- 
gun your preparations, and will at any moment be ready to start. 
In three days, Louis, you must be taken ill : you must send him 
word that you hope to be better ; but you must grow worse : you 
must keep your bed awhile, your room awhile, you must be feeble. 
While this goes on, if the mission is no plot against you, Otto will 
send some one else ; and besides, we shall gain time to influence 
the Bishop, restore his confidence in you, and outwit Perry.' 

'A good plan ; but the Bishop will be suspicious, and if I plead 
sickness he will wish to be certain that I am sick. I must have 
a physician, and how to deceive Mm ?' 

Catharine,' smiling a confident, superior smjle, of one who 
glories in an unmatched cunning, unlocked an escritoire, and 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 301 

lazily explored its contents. She drew forth a small vol- 
ume. 

' We must find you a disease, my brother, and you must learn 
its symptoms : we will select one to fit your appearance : you are 
slender, have been growing thin : you shall have consumption, 
Louis, and indulge in a hemorrhage of the lungs.' 

' Catharine ! ' 

' It is easily done. I had one myself, of the same hind, when I 
was resolved to visit the Eternal City, and our Mother, who was 
then Abbess, had objections; my life being very important, I 
gained my point. But, Louis, none of the sisterhood can outwit 
the present Abbess of the Holy Family. To proceed, Louis, your 
side should be sore and painful, and you can simulate that ; the 
doctor will blister you, but that is one of the little inconveniences 
you must submit to, to gain your end; blood and exhaustion are 
the grand symptoms, and those I will furnish you : listen and 
obey. In the first place, here are some leeches ; take them home 
and hide them ; you may consider it nauseous to put them in 
your mouth, but it will be better than being put out of the way 
yourself at the holy city, eh? Have your hemorrhage at night 
and alone, and occasion delays about getting a doctor : send also 
for a young practitioner. Having taken these precautions, pro- 
ceed thus : I will procure you a bottle of bullock's blood ; between 
the leeches and the blood and a little warm water/ you will do 
very well, and can have hemorrhages to order, my Louis.' 

Father French stood as one transfixed. He was a priest, there- 
fore he was cunning; but, shades of the double-tongued Tyrians! 
how he was excelled and eclipsed by his sister nun ! 

'The exhaustion,' said Catharine Illuminata, 'is another mat- 
ter ; you must be exhausted in proportion to your loss of the vital 
element, and in that you must be your own judge, Louis, and be 
careful. I can tell you on what portion of medicine to begin ; 
increase it as is needful.' 

She took two vials from her escritoire and stood before him, 
one in each hand ; eyeing the bottles, she poured from one into 
the other and shook them. 

Father French grew a shade paler; had he ever given the 
abbess any cause of offence ? How completely was he now in her 
hands ; how magnificent, how lofty, how unscrupulous she looked, 
standing there, her black robes only setting off her majestic pro- 



302 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

portions, her fairness, her beauty, glorious as Lucifer's when lie 
fell from heaven, standing with what might be death in either 
strong, white, cruel hand ! 

' What is that, Catharine ? ' asked French. 

6 Digitalis this/ said the abbess, holding out one vial. 

'And the other ?' 

' A secret, Louis ; one of the many things I learned by careful 
study ; I learned it in Eome, where they are wise in hidden arts. 
The effect of these potions will be to lower your pulse, checking 
the rapidity of the circulation, and chilling the extremities. As 
their effects leave you, you will apparently regain strength after 
that hemorrhage and revive.' 

' Catharine, you are going to deal truly with me ? These are 
dangerous secrets, and here I put my life under your feet. What 
will you do ? ■ 

Catharine dropped her hands a little, lifted her proud head, 
and boldly met French's eager eye. 

' Louis, what power is in here/ she glanced at the escritoire, ' I 
will not say, but it has never dealt out death, and shall do so 
least of all to you. I have power to defend myself, power to 
revenge myself ; but with you, Louis, I need neither the one nor 
the other. We are friends, we have formed a coalition ; it is not 
for my advantage to lose you by death or a mission. Perry does 
not like me ; the bishop is no warm friend ; what are my sisters 
but secret foes ? You, French, bring me news of the world ; you 
help me, and I help, am now helping, you. Trust me.' 

For answer French took the medicine she had prepared and 
put the vial in his pocket. 

6 1 would drink it now if you chose, Catharine/ 

* It would be of no advantage. Take care of it, of all that I 
give you ; let no one find them. The remedies supplied you by 
the doctors will not be unpleasant — water, lemons, or other acids, 
and so on ; those you can take ostentatiously, and throw away 
others unseen of any one. You can be peevish and demand agree- 
able medicines. In this world, Louis, it is sound policy always 
to get the best you can ; always to escape the unpleasant. I regret 
the blister and the confinement, but those are inevitable. I shall 
be distressed on your account, and make you a visit; I wish to see 
what kind of an actor you are, my Louis.' 

A word spoken in reason, how good it is ! Catharine's words 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 303 

were not like apples of gold in pictures of silver, but they were 
anchors of hope to which Priest French clung in his despair. To 
hear her was to obey. 

According to orders acted Priest French. He visited the 
bishop; he dissimulated ; he fell ill — and that was a tremendous 
dissimulation — and he conducted himself in all particulars so as 
to deceive the very elect, if there had been any among his asso- 
ciates ! 

As French had expected, Bishop Otto no sooner heard of his 
illness than he came on an inquisitorial visit to ascertain whether 
there was any sham in the sickness ; as Catharine predicted, he 
was deeply impressed by the sufferings and danger of his subor- 
dinate. 

From Priest French Otto went to the House of the Holy 
Family, and there casually informed the abbess of French's 
misfortunes. 

Catharine sighed. Mr. French was in here the other evening, 
and I foretold just such an attack. It has been coming upon him 
this long while ; the man takes no care of himself in his devotion 
to you and to this church ; then he was enraptured at the idea of 
seeing the Holy Father and Eome once more ; excitement has 
done this, bishop.' 

' I 'm afraid/ said Bishop Otto, eyeing her keenly, ' that French 
has had more on his mind than the service of the Church ; his 
attention has been devoted to other things, perhaps.' 

1 How you surprise me ! ' cried Catherine. ' He may be eager 
for the political advancement of our Church, but you would not 
condemn that ; he may be avaricious, but that is no harm, for all 
the property gained goes to your bishopric. If you mentioned 
Mr. Perry or Mr. Prentoul as being unsettled, I would not be so 
amazed as at such a hint in regard to that devoted, scrupulous 
priest, Father French.' 

' I hope he is all right, but I fear. There is no use in being 
secret over what you know already, and you remember that there 
was a trouble about a young woman belonging to the Church of 
the Visitation.' 

1 Fie, fie ! ' said Catherine, coolly. ( That was a pity, to be sure, 
but it was only an accident such as frequently happens ; all passed 
off quietly. French will do better hereafter, and has doubtless 
forgotten that by this time.' 



304 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Sitting about in secret places, Catharine's eyes, with wonderful 
prescience marked the affairs of secular life ; her white hands held 
many threads which no one would have thought of following to 
a convent, and these threads she spun, like Fate, into tissues to 
suit her will. Eumor was that Catharine could fly into furies, 
strike, and rage, — this among her sisters and subordinates; 
priests and potentates could say : 

1 1 find you passing gentle ; 
' T was told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen, 
And now I find report a very liar, 
Tor thou art pleasant, gainsome, passing courteous/ 

In the hands of astute priests, especially of Jesuits, auricu- 
lar confession is no more than the machinery of an universal es- 
pionage all over the Christian world. It will be said, 'No! 
because they cannot use it.' Ah, my friends! you do not know 
Jesuitical practice ? if one member of a family go to a Jesuit con- 
fessor, all the secrets of that family are discovered, and used. The 
confessor does not restrain himself to the secrets of the penitent ? 
if that be a young lady, or a servant, suppose, she is questioned 
about the actions of her father and mother, and masters; who 
came into the house ; what kind of society was kept ; what subjects 
were spoken of; if the food used on Fridays and Saturdays was 
such as the Church prescribes ; what book is read ; if there be any 
daily worship in the house ; which church they frequent ; if they 
go to confess, to the Easter sacrament, and so forth. Hundreds 
and hundreds of such questions are put, not appertaining to the 
penitent. Why ? To know the secrets of the family, to get this 
great power, and to use it. 

Who is the master in a Catholic family ? The confessor. Sons 
and daughters obey their confessor before their father and mother, 
and often displease their parents, in order to please their confess- 
ors. Husbands are only secondarily obeyed by their wives : first 
in command over them is always the father confessor. Believe 
my words: they speak the experience of more than twenty- 
five years among Papist clergy. The great work of Jesuits 
is always with women in the confessional ; here they dispose of 
society. 

The last warfare of auricular confession against the peace of 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 305 

families is at the dying bed. My dear Protestant brethren, take 
care for your America, and yourselves ; from that death-bed all 
friends, all relations are purposely excluded; the priest alone 
remains. What weapons he has in his hands ! fear of hell, remorse 
of conscience, — the flame of purgatory, all are used to induce the 
dying penitent to make the Church partially or totally his heir. 
— G-avazzi on Tlie Confessional. 

" ' Use your position ; let us have the benefit of your power,' 
Father French had said to Alda; but withal use it carefully; be- 
gin by conceding something. Bring your husband to our Church ; 
but, lest he seem to be yielding too much, I give you permission 
to go sometimes with him wherever he may choose ; keep him to 
his promise of being present at your prayers.' 

Accordingly, when the newly married pair returned to the ele- 
gant home which pride, rather than good policy, had ordained 
for them, one of Alda's first efforts at proselyting was the repeti- 
tions of her evening devotions. For these she was prepared with 
all elegant accessories : an embroidered cashmere in which to do 
religion becomingly, SLprie-dieu f a beautiful new Virgin, a paint- 
ing of the Mother and Child, and a crucifix of pearl and gold. 
These were duly made ready in her dressing room ; she reminded 
Roger of his agreement. 

'I do not ask you to join me, but you said you would be 
present.' 

' And what shall I do ?' asked Eoger, constrainedly 

' Anything you like,' replied the obliging Alda ; £ read a book 
or smoke a cigar. / don't mind smoke ; indeed, I quite like it.' 

This relieved Roger's mind immensely ; hers was an accommo- 
dating piety whose orisons would not be disturbed by smoke or 
light reading. The lawyer ensconced himself in an easy-chair ;. 
Alda unbound her locks of flowing gold, took a graceful position,. 
and a splendid prayer-book, and went to work. ' In the name of 
the Father,' etc., devoutly the pretty head bowed over the velvet 
cushion, and sweetly the prayers rolled on through ' Our Father,'' 
* Hail Mary,' etc., and here Alda's uplifted face turned to the pic- 
tured Mary. Then were the white hands clasped as in self-despair,, 
and the Creed and the Confiteor went on like music. What 
more tender than the tones of Alda's prayer for the souls in 
purgatory? Here Alda thought it best to take breath for 
awhile. She turned about and sat down on her prie-dieu, slipped 



306 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

her rosary through her taper fingers, shook it and twisted it, and 
addressed Eoger confidentially. ' I always feel so in earnest in 
that prayer for heretics, but I don 't consider you a heretic, dear. 
And then the prayers for the souls in purgatory : dear me, 
Eoger, I always think of poor cousin Fred and Lucia when I 
think of Purgatory ; it 's altogether likely they 're there.' 

' Very delightful to think of,' said Cant well. 

6 0, dreadful, of course ; but they '11 be out some day. Do you 
know I gave Father French the price of a new set of jewelry 
which I meant to have, just to say masses for those two ? ' 

1 It is getting late/ said Roger, glancing at the clock ; ' are you 
done?' 

' Bless me, no ! why I 've the litany and no end of prayers to 
do yet. I hope your book is interesting. I must go on.' 

So Alda addressed herself to the Virgin, and began the litany 
of Loretto ; a long, long litany to Mary ; a few short sentences 
to the Lamb of God; a prayer to the Father, and one to all the 
saints, beginning with ' Glorious St. Michael, prince of the ce- 
lestial hosts.' After this the Memorare, earnestly and pathet- 
ically delivered ; then the Angelas Domini and the Regina Coeli. 
When would she ever be through ? thought Eoger, whose cigar 
was out long ago. 

Alda turned to him in the midst of her prayers. 

' What comes next is supplication for parents, that you may be 
their comfort, and so on. Mine being dead, I just put St. Ger- 
trude's prayer to our Lady instead ; I think it is ever so pretty.' 
And Alda glibly went on with St. Gertrude's effusion. Again, 
{ Sweet hearts of Jesus and Mary be my refuge ! ' Mercy 0, Jesus ! 
Great St. Joseph, pray for us ! ' 

'What an immensity of prayers/ thought tired Eoger. But 
the long prayer for the Holy Church was yet to come ; priests, 
vicars, bishops, chief bishops, the faithful, the souls of the de- 
parted, the living, the benefactors and beneficiaries ; Alda's or- 
dained prayer embraced them all, to the last Amen. 

Then she approached Eoger, book in hand, ' I have to bpv them 
in English, but you could do them in Latin ; and 0, f 
sounds so grand when Father French repeats it ! ' 

' Do you do all this every night ? ' asked Eoger. 

* Oh, yes ; to be sure. Why not ? ' 

' I should think you would get amazingly tired.' 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 307 

' ~No, indeed ; one can thus do up their religion for all day, and 
it is very comfortable to be safe and settled for twenty-four hours 
I say my prayers, and being all right I can make myself happy 
doing what I please. There 's Jocelyn, she is perplexed with 
scruples, and rules, and dictates of conscience, and ideas ofconsis- 
tency every hour in the twenty-four/ 

Alda's pertinacity in her prayers was something wonderful to 
Eoger ; he saw her coming home late from balls or operas and 
getting at her long devotions in spite of weariness; this zeal in- 
spired him with a sort of respect; he grew accustomed to the 
words of the prayers, and when Alda said, ' Do, Eoger, say the 
Regina in the Latin/ or ' Come, Roger, begin this litany with 
me/ he would do so, rather pleased with the form. 

To Catholic church went Roger with his wife. To heretic 
church went Alda with her husband ; the one getting constitu- 
ents, the other displaying her toilets ; theirs was an easy religion, 
like that of Mr. By-ends. They could say with him, ' We are 
always most zealous when Religion goes in his silver slippers; 
we love much to walk with him in the streets, if the sun shines 
and the people applaud him.' 

Alda was constant at confession, but of this duty she very pru- 
dently made little mention to her husband, who was rather big- 
oted in some matters, and had more than doubts as to the virtue 
of that sacrament. Alda had no doubts; from the age of seven 
she had been accustomed to the tribunal of penance. The Coun- 
cil of Trent teaches that 'they who would escape perdition must 
make the most unreserved, intimate, and circumstantial ' replies 
to all the questions of their confessor. These replies were made 
not only in reference to Alda's personal affairs and spiritual life, 
but bore upon domestic relations, her husband, his prospects, his 
friends, his business, his private correspondence ; the Romish 
wife in virtue of her very Romanism, was made a household spy, 
the unconscious betrayer of her husband's interests. 

Letters were being written to the Holy Pope, and a present of 
money was to go with them. Alda was urged to give five hun- 
dred dollars; she was also persuaded to sign a contract promising 
that when the estate of her defunct cousin Fred should be adminis- 
tered and she should come in for her share, she would give the 
Church three thousand dollars. Alda was ready enough to prom- 
ise for by-and-by ; the present five hundred were hard to obtain. 



308 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

She said to her priest, ' Koger thinks his influence is enough to 
give, and he would make a terrible fuss about so much money. 
Don 't let him know I gave it. I must tell him it went for a new 
suit and trust to his not noticing the difference.' 

' Certainly, certainly; we have to manage these little things, 
and I will carefully keep your confidence, my daughter.' 

"We need not wonder at this deceit ; Eome instructs her children 
that a ' wife may steal from her husband in behalf of the Church.' 

SECLUSION OF KOMAN CATHOLIC CONVENTS. 

A few days since, a motion was made, and carried by a small 
majority, in the British Parliament, to appoint a committee to 
* inquire into Conventional and Monastic Institutions.' An edi- 
torial in the London Watchman of April 6, 1871, referring to the 
agitation growing out of this action, properly argues : i The con- 
vents are prisons. They are built, as every one may see, almost 
strongly enough to stand a siege ; high walls, massive doors, for- 
midable fastenings, grates and bars of portentous solidity: are 
these things the favored instruments of liberty ? Or are they the 
habitual weapons of tyranny and oppression ? The convents are 
prisons : at least the show of their countenance doth witness 
against them. Women enter them under compulsion, remain in 
them under severe and terrible restraint, and disappear from them 
entirely, leaving no trace behind. It is well known, that convents 
in this country, are in communication with convents abroad, and 
that refractory nuns, or young women who have not yet taken 
the conventional vows, and about whom unpleasant inquiries are 
made by friends, or lovers, are removed to the Continent : out of 
reach, sometimes forever out of reach, of all whom they love. As 
if to give special point to Mr. Newdegate's arguments, only a few 
days before he raised this question in the House, an unsuccessful 
attempt was made to remove a young woman to some convent- 
prison in France. Happily, the pursuit of her friends, and her 
own vigorous resistance baffled the attempt; but no one who 
heard her cries for help, resounding through the hotel where her 
spiritual guardians detained her for the night, could well believe 
that this i bride of heaven ' voluntarily ' sought the refuge of the 
cloister.' These unlicensed prisons are being multiplied in Eng- 
land at a rate which even the Times considers ' startling.' In 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 309 

1830, there were no monasteries in England, and only eleven 
convents. There are now sixty-nine monasteries, and two hun- 
dred and thirty- three nunneries. The increase has been very 
rapid of late, seventy-one convents, and fourteen monasteries hav- 
ing been added within the last seven years. They ought to be 
regularly inspected, and reported upon ; every person who enters 
them ought to be clearly and satisfactorily accounted for ; and 
every inmate who may desire it, should have the opportunity to 
his or her liberty regularly afforded ; till this is done, Eome is 
above law in England. 

A prominent pastor sends the following statement (addressed 
to himself), as vouched for by his Sunday-school Superintendent 
and the teacher referred to by the writer, a girl of seventeen : 

'As I am a stranger to you, but not to my Sabbath-school 
teacher, I will take the liberty to ask you to see my teacher, and 
tell her not to go to our house ; if she does she will be taken a 
prisoner, as I am, in the cell of a Catholic church, for being a 
heretic. My teacher instructed me in religion, but my father and 
mother are both Catholics. So, that I may not be a heretic, I 

will be sent to Convent to be a nun. When I get there I 

will try to get away from the convent. There are girls to go 

away on night ; some are sent because they will not be Catho- 
lics. My teacher's name is E . I dare not give the rest of 

her name, for fear it will fall into the hands of the priest. My 

name is . My teacher was my best friend when I was 

sick. She visited me every day; she did more for me than my 
father or mother could do ; if it had not been for her I would 
have died. I am sorry that I could not see her myself, and tell 
her to keep away. Do not forget to give this letter to her. She 
will tell you some things that you will be shocked to hear : your 
wife can see her, and she can tell her what they do in the convent, 
for she knows.' — Christian World. 

REPORTS OF DEATHS IK CONVENTS. 

I have heard several times of nuns who were thought by their 
friends to be dead, when they were living shut up in their convent. 
There are many there, in the secrecy and deception of convents, 
who live through long, dark days after their families have been 
informed that they are dead. — Chiniquy. 



310 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



CONVENT MUKDEKS. 

At length, one night, a stranger, traveling from Damascus 
to Beyroot, asked for a lodging in the convent; but the gates were 
already shut, the hour was late, and he was forced to content 
himself by lying down in the outer court till the morning. 

After a few hours' sleep, he was startled by a sudden noise of 
opening doors and bolts withdrawn. There came forth from the 
house three women with spades, followed by two men bearing a 
heavy white bundle, which they carried into an adjoining place 
of weeds and stones ; a hole was dug, the burden was deposited 
in it, and, after treading down the earth with their feet, the party 
returned to the house. The work of the nuns, the sight of the 
heavy bundle, and the general mystery of the midnight transac- 
tion kept the traveler awake, and he set out for Beyroot at the 
first glimpse of day. 

It happened that he was acquainted with a merchant in Bey- 
root, who, some months before, had placed two of his daughters 
in the convent, with a portion of £ 400 sterling. On naturally 
asking some questions about the journey, the sleep in the court- 
yard was mentioned ; and in the course of the conversation the 
mysterious burial, rather reluctantly on the traveler's part, tran- 
spired. The merchant was alarmed; he knew that one of his 
daughters had been taken ill, and he could not but remark that 
many of the nuns had died. He immediately mounted his horse 
and rode to the convent, where he demanded to see his daughter. 
The request was refused. He repeated it still more urgently. 
His suspicions were aroused by the sternness and insolence of the 
refusal. Leaving the convent in an agony of despair, he rushed 
to the dwelling of the emir, and detailed his complaint to the 
kohic (secretary), who ordered a body of horse to follow him, and, 
if necessary, to force open the convent. The grave was uncov- 
ered, the body was taken up ; it was the merchant's daughter ! 
He then inquired for his remaining daughter; she was found 
confined in the convent, but almost dead, and her narrative re- 
vealed scenes of the most frightful iniquity. It was proved that 
many of the nuns were murdered to get possessions, and others 
in consequence of objects still more atrocious, if possible. 

In the expressions of Colonel Churchill, the development ' has 



! 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 311 

not had the slightest effect on the conventual system, which is 
supported in this country as much as ever. The doors of the 
nunneries are impenetrably closed on their occupants, but whether 
God or the devil reigns within, must always be a matter of con- 
jecture.' 

This utter scorn of the lessons of experience is one of the pre- 
dicted characteristics of false religion. Kome never reforms. 
The heaviest calamities, the most startling exposures, the most 
palpable detection of follies, artifices, and crimes, never produce 
the slightest change. The Papacy, at this moment, is as besotted 
with fable and prone to imposture as if , the world remained in 
the sullen credulity of the dark ages. — Bulwark ; or. Reforma- 
tion Journal, Edinburgh, 1856. 

" When troubles come of God, then nought behooves 
Like patience : but for troubles wrought of men, 
Patience is hard— I tell you it is hard " 

" A correspondent from Eome, of the Jewish Gazette of Pesth, 
writes : ' Nine years since a beautiful girl of eighteen, named 
L. Avignon, disappeared from her home. Her parents found 
part of her clothes on the bank of the Tiber. They believed her 
dead. This year (1871), when many convents were opened by 
the Italian authorities, a nun appeared before a commissioner, 
begging to be returned to her family, of whom she had not heard 
for nine years. She gave her name and former abode, and told 
the magistrate a priest, called Hubert, yet living, had ruined her, 
by force and fraud, and then shut her in a convent, under rigor- 
ous restraint, as one baptized and converted. The civil authori- 
ties sought for the parents, and found the mother yet living. 
The unhappy mother could scarcely recognize her once beautiful 
child, now wOrn and feeble from convent restraint, physical and 
mental suffering in her long imprisonment.' " 

CONVENT AUSTERITY. 

I will give you an instance : A tender-hearted young sister vio- 
lated this rule, by giving some money to a poor family on the 
point of starvation; when her Superior heard of it, she made her 
fast on bread and water for one week. The vow of chastity for- 



312 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

bids her to love one of the opposite sex, or ever think of a hus- 
band, save Christ. She cannot even extend her hand to a 
gentleman, or look in his face without breakimg her rules ; nor 
must she caress a little child, for fear of maternal instincts dis- 
tracting her. But these ardent, impulsive young creatures, with 
all the woman's loving nature, cannot, do not, keep this vow. 
There is not a sister in the convent, but desires a material husband, 
and they do have their lovers among the priests, and laymen. (I 
have seen six sisters in love with one priest : but he only loved 
one of them, consequently, they were unhappy and jealous.) By 
the vow of obedience, she must give up not only her will, but also 
her judgment and reason. Her Superior, a woman oftentimes of 
inferior intellect, ignorant, superstitious, and domineering, can- 
not be addressed except on the knees of the subject ; she must 
kneel at her feet, and listen to her commands, as coming from 
the mouth of God; if the subject receives a command, which her 
judgment tells her is wrong or absurd, she must violate her reason, 
and do the will of another. — Edith O'Gorman, Lecture in the 
Tabernacle, New York. 1868, 

" This is no heaven ! 
And yet they told me all heaven was here, 
This life the foretaste of a life more dear : 
That all beyond this convent cell, 

"Was but a fairer hell. « 

Ah me — it is not so. 

This is not home ! 
And yet for this I left my girlhood's bower, 
Shook the fresh dew from April's budding flower, 
Cut off my golden hair, 
Forsook the dear and fair, 
And fled, as from a serpent's eyes, 
Home, and its holiest charities." 

MURDER. 

Ariault teaches, that it is no harm to murder your enemy, if 
you do it so secretly as to occasion no scandal. Guimenius 
affirms the same in his seventh proposition. Molina in his six- 
teenth disputation avers, that it is right to kill any man, to save a 
crown ; with which proposition, Taberna in his Practical The- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 313 

ology, perfectly coincides. To come to the case in question, in- 
fanticide, I can only tell you the authorities in favor of that deed 
are too numerous to mention. 'For the sake of concealing in- 
famy, and preserving reputations, infanticide is not only permitted, 
but enjoined.' I will give you the moral animus of Jesuitism, in 
the words of F. Xavier Makami, Prefect of the Jesuit College at 
Eouen. He says in a thesis, 'Fortunate crimes make heroes. 
Successful crime, ceases to he a crime. Success constitutes or ab- 
solves the guilty at its will/ 



A ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE. 

One of the worst revelations of Romanism in this country 
concerns a Eoman Catholic Orphanage, and comes to me from a 
lady well known for fortune and benevolence, the wife of the 
president of the Chamber of Commerce in one of our largest 
cities. This lady had a servant, a widow with a child, an un- 
usually fine boy of two years. By the advice of her mother, the 
young woman placed her little son in the Infant Asylum of St. 
Francis. She afterward told her mistress that a nun had warned 
her against this course, saying ' No child thrived at St. Fran- 
cis's. 

A fortnight later, the grandmother remarked to the mistress, 
' I guess her child is dead by this time. I saw it a week ago, and 
it looked as if it could not hold out much longer.' 

This heartless remark so distressed the lady, herself the mother 
of children, that she called her carriage, and driving to St. Fran- 
cis's, demanded the boy. She was left in the sacristy alone for 
about an hour; then, seizing a passing nun, she repeated her 
demand. 

The presence of the child was denied ; but, as she insisted, she 
was bidden come to the yard, and select it. She found the ' yard ' 
a treeless, tan-bark-covered place, where numbers of children 
were lying listlessly about, all wan, emaciated, and sore-eyed, un- 
sheltered from the sun. Only one was plump and fair, and that 
with a strange, unchildish sorrow in its eyes. The nun casually 
remarked that this little one had just come in. The child sought 
not being here, the ' sister f turned to look for it in a long shed, 
and here the lady softly followed her. She found, lying in little 
straw-filled boxes, many babes — all wasted, dirty, clad each in 



314 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

one soiled garment — all sore-eyed, wretched, and apparently dy- 
ing. 

The nun lifted one from its miserable resting-place, and, turn- 
ing, confronted the Tisitor. ' 0, my God ! ' she cried, 'go out of 
here instantly or they will kill me ! ' 

The lady received into her arms the infant sufferer, and took 
it home. In three days it died, the family physician and the ex- 
perienced nurse declaring it a plain case of starvation, the eyes 
being literally burned away by strong waters. 

The details are too horrible to be narrated. A seamstress 
stated that she had served two months next door to St. Francis's, 
and had never seen a milkman there, but from two to five small 
coffins carried out of early mornings. 

A widow, who supported herself by coloring photographs, took 
her three-year-old son, a robust child, to board at St. Francis's 
while she executed a large order for work ; and, going for him 
early one morning, at the expiration of three weeks, met the cof- 
fin of the child coming from the gate. 

A Catholic cook boldly told the lady, who, as I told you, in- 
vaded St. Francis's, that children taken there were not expected to 
be raised ; that only those children went to St. Francis's who were 
in everybody's way, and, if any others were carried thither it was 
a mistake for which the sisters were not responsible. She also 
said that ' children dying in that consecrated spot were sure of 
glory, whereas, if they lived, they might be thieves, murderers, or 
even heretics. The holiness of the sisters was increased by every 
child that got to heaven through their hands.' ' Then,' cried this 
Protestant lady, ' why not give them a sponge-full of chloroform, 
or a dose of laudanum ; it would be far less cruel ! ' 

' 0,' replied the astute Eomanist, ' that would be murder, but 
this is simply letting alone.' 

Being informed of these things, I took occasion to question a 
respectable, honest, and kind-hearted Eomanist woman about St. 
Francis's. At first she professed ignorance, but, by degrees, 
averred that no children lived long in this Orphanage ; a friend 
of hers had rescued, after a three weeks' stay, a babe that went 
in healthy, and came out blind and dying. 

s The situation must be unhealthy,' I said. 

? Bad situations do n't make sore eyes,' she replied. 

1 Then there is lack of food or ventilation,' I suggested. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 315 

' Lack of food, like enough,' she answered. 

* The bishop should know it ; must be informed of it.' 

'He does know it/ she retorted; 'and he forbade my sister 
putting four fine children there, for he said they would not 
thrive ; but he told her of two other convents where they are 
doing well.' 

From all this, you, my friends, must gather, as I did, that 
Eome has in one country, at least one house devoted to slow in- 
fanticide, where poor little infants, a burden to their natural 
protectors, and having small claim on the community, are done 
to death by letting alone ! And let me tell you, infanticide is 
peculiarly a Roman Catholic crime, and a crime especially inimi- 
cal to the interests of a republic; for republics, like families, 
should grow not so much by the adoption of aliens, as by children 
born in their midst. — Christian World, April, 1871. 

" But the young, young children ! O, my brothers, 

They are weeping bitterly I 
They are weeping in the playtime of the others, 

In the country of the free 1" 

"What of Father French and Bishop Otto? 

"And now troubles and dangers thickened. Bishop Otto had 
not yet given up his hope of influencing Cantwell. On a day of 
smothered excitement, when some sort of a moral tempest was 
brewing, Bishop Otto, on pretence of going to his room to sleep, 
stole out of the house, leaving Francis, his so-called shadow, in 
the oratory. 

Some time after, the coachman, a kindly fellow devoted to his 
master, came to Francis, saying anxiously, ' His reverence went 
off alone two or three hours ago, ' and I 'm fearin' as sum 'at has 
happened him. Folk are lookin' for a stir round town to-day, 
though, may be, there'll not be any. Howsomdever, there's 
been mad looks agin Earle's print-shop since that bad book was 
out, and his lordship goes that a way so often, I 'm thinking if 
times get rough he may be towzled and put upon ; that 's all, 
Mr. Francis.' 

The countenance of Francis expressed the utmost anxiety. 
' Go, go,' he cried, ' bring the carriage and take me down to Judge 
Cantwell's office. We must find the bishop at once; he is always 
thinking of others and never of himself.' 



316 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Poor Francis ! 

It was growing late in the afternoon ; the red light of the de- 
clining sun burnished spires and chimneys, and fringed the roofs 
with flame. To the terrified Francis everything wore the hue of 
blood ; the sewers seemed filled with a horrible crimson tide, and 
the hum and rattle in the busy streets came to his ears as mingled 
with groans and shrieks. But no ; all the city was at peace ; men 
went their several ways without a fear; alarm dwelt only in the 
bosom of Francis. 

Leaping from the carriage, the servant was hurrying up the 
stair when he met Cantwell coming down. 

' Where is Bishop Otto ? ' cried Francis. 

( I do not know ; he left here a half an hour since, with Mr. 
French.' 

' But I heard there was some disturbance going on.' 

' Not at all ; why should there be ? All is quiet.' 

Partially comforted, Francis came down the steps with the 
lawyer, Cantwell eyeing him intently all the while. Mr. Dunbar 
was leaving the book-store, and the gentlemen stopped to shake 
hands. In an instant, before they could understand the cause, 
the carriage horses made a plunge, throwing down the driver, 
who held the reins, and alas ! flinging Francis under the wheels, 
which passed over his chest. 

There were few in Allerton Place at that hour, but all who 
saw the accident sprang to the rescue. Some secured the horses, 
others cared for the stunned coachman, but Dunbar and Cantwell 
lifted the lifeless form of Francis, and carried it into Earle's de- 
serted sanctum, sending our Aurora Lane boy for a physician. 

Roger poured water on Francis's head and face, while Mr. 
Dunbar with busy anxiety undid his neckcloth and vest to ascer- 
tain the extent of the injury. The delicately moulded, uncov- 
ered throat, the fair, soft skin of the feebly-heaving bosom, 
revealed Otto's carefully-cherished secret. Dunbar sprang back 
with a cry of surprise. 

1 Cantwell, it is a woman ! ' 

Eoger reached for an afghan lying tumbled on an adjacent 
chair, and drew it pitifully over this Francis. The wet hair of 
the unconscious stranger fell in heavy masses about the pallid 
face ; Cantwell, with a sudden thought, divided it in the centre 
and smoothed it back with his fingers, studying the features well. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 317 

f The Bishop's ward ! Poor soul ! I suspected, but dared not 
believe this, long ago. 0, pity, pity ! ^ 

'Friend/ said Dunbar, hastily, 'this eclair 'cissement must not 
take place here, in mercy to that unhappy man and this poor 
girl. Before the doctor comes, let us carry her to Otto's house, 
and leave him to manage the affair as best he can/ 

'Yes,' said Boger, slowly, ' I think she is dying; let her die 
there. The carriage is at the door ; bring those cushions ; I will 
carry her out. Have one of those boys get a bottle of brandy 
next door.' 

As the two gentlemen entered the hall of the bishop's residence, 
bearing their insensible burden, Otto met them, wringing his 
hands, with a great cry. He motioned toward the library sofa, 
saw plainly that all was known, and, in his anguish, forgetting 
his dread of scandal, closed the door, imploring, ' Stay and help 
me ! I cannot have these servants know this. You, you under- 
stand it now; have mercy on me, Judge Cantwell.' 

' Friend,' said Boger, sincerely, ' anything and everything which 
we can do is at your service. Let us see if we can restore con- 
sciousness here.' 

'Is there any hope?' gasped Otto. 

Mr. Dunbar shook his head. ' Evidently none.' 

They had laid the limp figure upon a sofa, removed a portion 
of the clothing and applied restoratives. Bishop Otto knelt sob- 
bing by the couch, holding the white hands in his own. Still 
striving to restore consciousness, these anxious watchers saw 
Francis's eyes open, and, evidently realizing the present danger, 
the first glance fell upon the bishop with such tenderness and 
compassion as moved even Boger to tears. 

' Francis ! ' cried Otto, in an agony. 

'Not Francis, now,' said the dying one, slowly; 'that is past. 
Call me by the name you said was dangerous — Laure — once 
more.' 

' Laure ! my Laure ! angel of my life ! devoted, self-sacrificing, 
most loving Laure ! ' cried Otto, wildly. ' that I might die for 
you or with you ! ' 

' That cannot be,' said Laure, stroking his face gently. ' Poor 
Otto, what will you do when I am gone ? ' 

'Laure, beloved, I have ruined your life, beguiled you from 



318 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

home and friends, shut you out from society, made you most un- 
happy. Can you forgive me, forgive all this ? * 

' I have nothing to forgive ; I loved you, Otto. 9 Such a wonderful 
devotion was in those tones," that Dunbar, covering his face turned 
away. 

'Let me speak, Otto,' said Laure, laying her hand over the 
Bishop's lips. ' Let me speak to these two, who have learned what 
we have so long concealed, even from those who dwelt under the 
roof with us. Sirs,' Cantwell and Dunbar drew near, looking 
compassion ; Laure spoke in slow, soft tones, for she was growing 
very feeble, but every word was well weighed and plain. 

( Mr. Dunbar, you may not remember me, but I know you well ; 
Laure Vallerie was once your sister's dearest friend ; that may 
arm you against me, but recollect that I loved her, and felt that 
in my Church only could she find salvation. By her conversion 
also, I hoped to atone for this life which you despise me for lead- 
ing. My plan failed, Mr. Dunbar; your sister, as you must have 
heard before this, died a Protestant. Alas, I fear she is lost!' 

Laure paused a moment, then spoke again. 

' Sirs, you see in me one who has lived a lie, who has never been 
blessed with a marriage vow; you despise me, you despise and 
condemn Mm. But hear me a moment, for my justification, for 
I have a last request to make, and I make it of you two. This 
bishop is much older than I, but from the hour that he and I 
first met, — it was in church after service, Otto, — we have loved 
each other so truly and so devotedly, as to forget all the world 
besides. If our church had been like yours, sir,' she looked at 
Mr. Dunbar, i I should have been his wife in name, as in heart. 
Sir, our Church is true and holy, but in some things she seems 
ordained rather for angels, than for human beings; we are in 
this, the victims of our Church, for she is strong and we are 
weak. The sacrament of marriage was denied us ; we could only 
promise each other to be true and loving, each to each, and let no 
one else come between us ; for the rest, we took care that no one 
suspected me, that we might save a scandal to the Church. I am 
dying, I shall be beyond fear, shame, or scorn, in a few hours : 
but, sirs, he will not. I do not repent this thing ; you have been 
so kind to me, Otto, and have needed me so much : and you know 
our Church shut us up to it ; and, sirs, we have atoned for this 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 319 

fault, by extreme devotion to the Holy Virgin, who is most pitiful 
and tender.' 

'Do not hurry me, Otto,' she continued; 'you know I wear 
the brown scapular, and cannot die before I confess. I hope the 
Lord and all the angels will forgive me, for I have tried to live 
well in all but that, and you will find your chief happiness in say- 
ing many masses for me, my Otto. But, gentlemen, his peace 
and honor are now in your hands ; there may be hints and sur- 
mises, but he can look them down, if you two, who may be sup- 
posed to know the truth, will only be silent. Promise me that 
you will thus be merciful to him ; for think, if you had been in 
his place, cut off from family and friends, never an equal or com- 
panion near you, no one with true love for you, none to call you 
by name, to tend you in illness : 0, if you had found one to love, 
and to love you, you might have done as he has done.' 

' We promise you,' said Dunbar. ' It will do us no good to add 
another care and sorrow to the bishop's life. We pity you both. 
He is not in our hands to be destroyed ; to God only must you 
look, and give account. Do not fear us.' 

Otto had sent for a physician of some skill, belonging to his 
own congregation, and Laura Vallerie, now being relieved from 
her chief fear, said to the bishop that she wished to confess to 
Father French. 

From this the bishop shrank, saying, ' Why not to me, Laure ? 
It is permitted in the Compendii Theologim Moralis. You re- 
member that. Is it best to call in another priest, my Laure ? ' 

Laure looked distressed. ' I wish it so, my Otto. It is a terri- 
ble thing to die : it is best to be well prepared. I could wish — ' 

'No more, beloved Laure. I will send for him, instantly.' 

The physician came. Mr. Dunbar and Roger, with a silent 
bow, withdrew. 

The doctor found no reason to hope; Laure Vallerie had but a 
few hours to live. Having done what he could to relieve pain 
and make her last moments easy, he departed, leaving her to the 
ministrations of Father French. Otto stood by the window, 
weeping, while Father French bent over the bed to receive Laura's 
last confession. 

'I trust,' said the penitent, in conclusion, 'not only to your 
sworn secrecy as a priest, but in the natural kindness of your 
heart.' 



320 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Father French bowed, pronounced his absolution, and sat 
down ; then he looked toward Otto. 'Bishop, the viaticum ; the 
time is short.' 

' Short!' A heart-rending groan burst from Otto; he hurried 
to Laure, bent over her, kissed her repeatedly, murmuring words 
of affection. 

' My poor Laure ! and the reward of your devotion is an un- 
happy life, a violent death.' 

'No, the reward is your love, your happiness, Otto. I have 
not been unhappy. If I had not been so fiercely jealous of the 
abbess, of Lucia, of every one who was near you, I would have 
been most happy. But that was my nature.' 

' You had no need to be jealous, most dearly beloved.' 

' Ah, I see it now. Yours was not a love to grow weary, and 
reject me ; it was my folly to think so ; in that I wronged you.' 

Otto turned to French. 'Make ready the viaticum, French. I 
am abased before you ; pity, if you cannot excuse, me.' 

When the last rites of the Church had been performed, and 
Laure was dead, Priest French left the palace and went to the 
sacristy of the Church of the Visitation. Standing there alone, 
he looked at the paraphernalia of his office. 

' This strife is ended,' he said. ' Would I put Nell in that poor 
girl's place ? would I be Bishop Otto ? If he could not contend with 
his fate, can I ? No ; but, say what they will, there is but one 
course I can take after this day's lesson. I will go to Nell, and 
marry her.' 

So, leaving his robes and his Church, Priest French went forth 
resolved to seek, with honorable intentions, the long-unhappy and 
injured mother of his son." 

"Rome proclaims herself united. But is Rome thus one in 
doctrine ? By no means. It has not needed the disputes at the 
last Ecumenical Council, nor the division into 'old ' and 'new' 
Catholics in Europe, to teach us that in Rome are more parties, 
and more diversities in belief than are to be found anywhere else. 
If differences are heresy, then Rome is the first and chief of here- 
tics. Friars of different orders, wearers of diverse scapulars scan- 
dalize humanity by their quarrels. 

In France and Spain there are almost as many Virgins as there 
are districts ; and one bishop, as during the late Franco- Prussian 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 321 

war, says, ' Implore my Virgin ; ' another says, e Nay, my Virgin 
is the one for the present emergency.' When Charles and Philip 
fought for the crown of Spain, the Virgin of Pilar favored 
Charles, this Virgin being an imperialist ; while the Crucifix of 
San Salvator fought under the banners of Philip, being ' affec- 
tionate ' to him. The imperialists were so angry at San Salvator, 
in plain speech, Jesus Christ, that they would make no gifs to 
his altars ; while Philip's men cut the acquaintance of the Holy 
Virgin because she favored Charles. 

In 1542, Dr. Augustine Eomirez in Spain (Saragossa) pub- 
lished in a book on the Virgin, that Mary the Queen of Heaven, in 
a celestial council, had been affronted by the Holy Spirit, who de- 
clared that until her altars were enriched on earth, she was not 
equal to the Holy Trinity. At this time the Virgin, in a vision, 
informed a Spanish priest that for fifteen years she had had so 
few offerings made her, that she was ashamed to open her lips to 
God the Father. 

About the immaculate coaception of the Virgin, the Domini- 
cans and Franciscans have never agreed, and mut ally accuse each 
other of heresies. There has never been a council in the Catho- 
lic Church which has not condemned some other council. The 
fact about Komanism is that it agrees in nothing but disagreeing. 
Three great parties in the Eomish Church have divided on the 
councils of their promulgations. All the councils have been de- 
nied by one or another of the Fathers. 

Some of the most able and magnificent swearing-matches on 
record have been when the venerable authorities of Komanism 
got together, officially to curse each other and their deliverances. 
Whenever these holy fountain-heads of wisdom came into coun- 
cil, and each uttered his mind, it was found that there were as 
many opinions as men. Each then proceeded to anathematize 
his neighbor and his neighbor's faith. The sacred bishops, ar- 
rayed in their canonicals, made their council-chamber a Mount. 
Ebal which had no Gerizim to offset it. In one of the Alexan- 
drian synods a Catholic saint bestowed upon an equally Catholic 
heretic thirteen distinct cursings, a kindness which the heretic 
returned with amiable alacrity. Cyril, Nestorius, John, Genna- 
dius, Memnon, Ibes, Theodoret, in different ages and quarters of 
the globe cursed each other with the highest cordiality and piety. 

Popes have condemned Popes. There have been two universal; 



322 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Popes, and two universal Councils at the same time, each partic- 
ularly proficient in the fine art of execration. Urban was Pope, 
not so much Dei Gratia, as Catherine Gratia, the saint of Sienna, 
having particularly propped his falling throne. The Ecumenical 
of 1870 has fixed the infallibility of all the Popes. What then 
was the divine utterance by the mouth of Pope Boniface, in 1294 ? 
The most shocking of blasphemy which the pen trembles to write ; 
'The soul of man is the soul of a beast, men dust, with no hope 
of immortality. I believe no more in Mary Virgin, than I believe 
in an ass, nor in her son, than in the foal of an ass/ 

In the face of all this contradiction, and internecine war, what 
can the Romish Church do but exactly what it has done, i. e., to 
proclaim the infallibility of the Pope, and hereafter accept the 
decree of his lips as the word of God ; and when the Popes con- 
tradict each other, saying that a thing is, and is not, at the same 
time, the Catholic Church must content themselves with the as- 
surance, that such contradictions are holy mysteries, like the 
Trinity, and the Conception of Christ, not to be doubted nor dis- 
puted, but humbly accepted. This doctrine of the immaculate 
conception of Mary, gave the Romish Church, in effect, an addi- 
tional person in the Godhead, a holy Quarternity. The decree of 
the Pope's infallibility, gives that same Church a divine Quinter- 
nity, in the name of which, for consistency's sake, they should be 
baptized. 

Rome's books to Rome report the baleful tale of Sin and her 
horrible offspring, as Milton hath it — 

'These yelling monsters that with ceaseless cry 
Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived, 
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite — 

Into the womb 
That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw ! 

begotten in Rome's polution, they prey upon, and shall eventually 
destroy her. [Her iniquities ?] 

Is it to be wondered at, that Romanists tremble with fear at 
the bare mention of the spiritual philosophy which shall, in due 
time, reveal the immensity of their crimes, their shameful in- 
trigues ? Not that we would condemn them, for we say, with 
Brother Peebles, we judge not; we condemn not any; and it is 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 323 

evident to us that the masses of the people, in this, as in all things 
else, sin ignorantly. Enlightenment, we well know, is unfavora- 
ble to Eomanism ; and, while we pity the miserable ignorance of 
many of her zealous adherents, we cannot fail to see in their 
characters much to admire and appreciate. They have been 
nursed in the Church ; the Church is their home, their Religion, 
although in many cases is seems buried so deep, it is hard to find. 
" Religion," says Rembert, " is the strongest principle that act- 
uates the human heart, as I well know from my own experience, 
as well as from observation and history. From the latter we learn 
that in the ' Holy ' (?) Wars of the Cross vs. the Crescent — (may 
the sacred symbol of the lettered scroll never stain with human 
blood its celestial sheen) the Crusades — two million men were 
killed, and a pyramid was erected from their bones from one 
battle-field near Nieve, by Solyman, as a monument to their fa- 
naticism ; and the Saracens drank beer out of their skulls. His- 
tory tells us that in the religious Christian conflicts following the 
reformation of Luther, at which time the popes were the legiti- 
mate despots of the world, and made kings and national rulers 
their abject vassals and suppliant slaves, subject to their tyrannic 
caprices, which they exercised in the most diabolical manner, and 
all by divine appointment ; fifty millions were slain, making a 
grand aggregate of perhaps a hundred millions who, in the history 
of mankind, have victimized themselves to their religion. The 
skeletons of these victims of religion, if linked together, would 
pave with human bones more than a hundred thousand miles long ; 
would girdle the world more than four times round ; would build a 
structure larger than Colossus, Coliseum, or Pyramid. What 
else can impel a man to throw himself under the car of Jugger- 
naut to be instantly crushed ? What impel a mother to sacrifice 
her child, as the Africans to the Ganges ? or the Chaldean to ti.e 
Hierapolis ? Man in every age is a devout religionist ; it is an 
innate and ineradicable principle in his nature to conceive of 
and imagine a higher mind, to hope for immortality and yearn 
for glory." 

Extract from a friend's letter : — 

" Yours was received more than a week ago, and now I am 
going to answer it, though I do n't know what I shall say, I am 
sure. Now, how nice it would be if some other one would writ© 



324 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

for me, same as he does for you, then I would not have to think. 

W says, Tell you, we had a spiritual sermon, this morning, by 

J H ; he told them about 'Ezra, the Scribe ' coming 

down and appearing to Dr. S and his wife, and casting ac- 
counts with them. It was a very peculiar and very interesting 
sermon. Row, perhaps you know Ezra or have heard of him. I 
suppose I ought not to joke about this; it's wicked, isn't it? 
Well, it seems to me that I am dreadful wicked, any way, and the 
more I try to be good the worse I grow, I guess. If I could see 
you I should ask you a thousand and one questions, foolish ones, 
probably. Now, for instance, supposing there are true mediums, 
what good are they doing ? what of the will of God do they fore- 
tell ? how affect the people who listen ? is there any good comes 
of it ? Christ said, ' Go ye into all the world and preach the gos- 
pel.' ' Christ and him crucified ' is the great theme ; he died for 
all, and we are all saved through him, if we believe ; and he will 
give us his holy spirit. 

Do you think God's ministers are mediums ? they profess to be 
moved by the spirit. Well, dear, I don't know, and sometimes 
think I do not care; I believe I want to do right, but I do not 
live near enough to my God to feel the presence of his love, and 
of my love to him : I am afraid I am not a follower after right- 
eousness. 

What do you think about revivals of religion? what do you 
think of Mr. Moody's sermons ? do you really enjoy our old-fash- 
ioned religion as you used to do ? This is personal, but I wish 
you would answer my questions. There seems to be great revivals 
of religion through the country. I was much interested in your 
last; I hope God will bless you, and that, if you are an in- 
strument in his hands for doing good, you may do great 
things. I do n't believe you will want to write to me again ; I 
write you such harum-scarum letters. What do you mean by your 
being able to impress me — put particular thoughts uppermost in 
my mind ? " 

Reply: — 

I did not intend so long a time should elapse before answering 
your"harum scarum" letter. I assure you it was not on that 
account, for it did n't scare me a bit, and I enjoyed its contents 
more than I can tell you. I expect, if you think yourself " wicked, " 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 325 

you will think me " more wickeder still," for I don't feel as if I 
should have some other one to assist me this time, and many of 
your queries are of such a personal character, I s'pect it would 
hardly be fair for a third party to interfere. I should have en- 
joyed hearing that spiritual sermon, I am sure. Ezra, the scribe, 
I do not " know * personally, but have read of him. Those other 
folks, Dr. Somebody and his wife, are not among my acquaintances, 
and I can't make them out at all. Have waded clear way through 
the book of Ezra to-day, read how the people of God that were 
with him transgressed by their abominations, and how Ezra 
mourned over them, and rent his garment and his mantle, and 
plucked off the hair of his head and his beard — it must have 
been dreadful — and sat down among them, astonished. Well, 
among all the multiplicity of tribes and names given, I don't 
find him " casting accounts " with any one in particular, although 
the Good Book says " the hand of the princes and rulers hath 
been chief in this trespass," as is usually the case. I have there- 
fore come to the conclusion that the doctor and his wife must have 
lived at a later period — perhaps are still living — upon earth, 
and that Ezra appeared to them in spirit. Am I correct ? 

As to God's ministers being mediums, I most assuredly believe 
that every minister upon the face of the earth is a medium, if I 
understand the signification of the word medium. T have no dic- 
tionary here, and have never observed the accepted rendering of 
the word ; but my conception of it is: a person or instrumentality 
used to convey thoughts, sentiments, and ideas, from one party 
to another. If this be the correct definition, not only our minis- 
ters, but ourselves, every individual who has the breath of life 
within him is a medium in a greater or less degree. From the 
common acceptation of the word it may not thus appear ; but 
viewing it even in this light, I am bold enough to assert that I 
not only believe, but know that all of our most able and efficient 
ministers, public speakers, and writers, are, and have been in all 
ages, either wholly or partially controlled by spirit power, even 
though unconsciously to themselves. Many of them, as you say, 
profess to be moved by the spirit, and think, as did the prophets 
and writers of old, that there is no Holy Spirit, save one. Now, 
dear, just reflect for a moment, and tell me, if you can, how it 
would be possible for so many diverse creeds, religions, and doctrines 
to exist upon the earth as there does, and ever have existed , if 



326 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

all are moved by the same spirit ? We well know that many of 
these are in direct opposition to each other. Is it not, then, more 
reasonable to suppose — indeed a self-evident fact — that there 
are many ministering or controlling spirits, and that these spirits 
retain the opinions, as well as the characteristics of their earth- 
life, until a progressive change has been wrought in them ? This 
is what our spiritual philosophy teaches, and that precisely as they 
leave this world, so will they enter the spirit abode ; but it does 
not teach, as do some who profess wisdom from on high, that 
they will thus forever remain, but that they will gradually unfold 
their powers, and expand the germ of a higher life which is im- 
planted in the nature of every human being. 

That there are lying, hypocritical, and evil, as well as good and 
holy spirits, who can and do control under the same universal 
law, is not a pleasing feature of the philosophy, but is far less 
dangerous when known and understood, than when ignorantly 
concealed. As the law which governs the phenomena is immuta- 
ble, holy spirits and unholy ones have the same opportunities for 
controlling at their will, provided they can fin da medium for their 
communication ; hence the injunction "try the spirits." 

" Supposing there are true mediums, what good are they doing ? 
what of the will of God do they for tell ? how do they affect the 
people who listen ? is there any good comes of it ? " 

I will also suppose a case : If there was a far-away country 
upon this earthly sphere, to which we must all, at some indefinite 
period of time not far distant, remove, and consider our final 
home, until death, or spiritual birth to a higher life; and if that 
country were governed by a king whose authority was supreme ; 
which would give you the most satisfaction : to read a history of 
that country and the king's dealings with his subjects, written by 
authors of whom you knew nothing, and who lived and died there 
centuries before your birth, representing the place and people as 
they appeared unto them at that time; or to listen unto, or read, 
a verbal declaration or written description of the same, by your 
own dearly loved and personal friends who had preceded you ? 

As to revivals of religion, conversion of souls : I have no doubt 
there has been, and still is, much good accomplished, and souls 
truly converted by this means, although I have had little personal 
experience or opportunity of judging of the ultimate results. I 
have always considered a gradual change of heart and life more 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 327 

natural, and more likely to be enduring. I am unable to give you 
my opinion of Mr. Moody's sermons, for I don't "think" I ever 
read but one of them, and that was so long ago I cannot recall it. 
I felt anxious to attend one of their meetings, which they were 
holding in Brooklyn at the time I was in New York, but circum- 
stances prevented. 

As to enjoying the old-fashioned religion as well as I used to: 
Yes, just as much, and no more; as compared with my present 
views and feelings, the first is like a skeleton of dry bones ; the 
present, the same "bones," no longer " dry," but elastic and plia- 
ble, from the covering of soft, warm flesh which embodies them. 
My religion — if you will excuse the personality, but that seems 
to be what you are after now — has not been changed, but clothed 
upon. I have, from the earliest recollections of my childhood, 
had an instinctive horror of listening to a hell-fire sermon, to 
speak plainly, and have never believed in that doctrine. I could 
not but feel indignant that a G-od of infinite wisdom and justice, 
whose supreme attribute is Love, should be charged with revenge- 
ful cruelty exceeding that of the vilest despot in existence. Fur- 
thermore, I cannot believe there is a being in the whole universe 
who has the remotest idea that he shall be among the number 
consigned to fire and everlasting burning ; they may think, as 
some teach, that others will be, but not themselves. This terror- 
stricken doctrine is seldom advanced among enlightened people 
at the present day ; reason and progress will not, and cannot, ad- 
mit, or accept of it. The law of progression is everywhere in 
motion, and spiritual food comes spontaneously, at times, and 
from sources least suspected by us. As to " impressing you," dear, 
u them 's not my sentiments " but that " some other " one's. 



'T was Easter morn, bright, beautiful, and fair ; 

A friend beloved and I, did wend our way 

Unto the place of thine abode, dear Lord : 

Thine altar pure, a sacred shrine, from which 

Sweet incense from the breath of flowers, commingling 

With the prayers of saints, we love yea, we love ! 

There songs of holy ecstasy unite 

With angel choirs, and thence ascend unto 



328 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Celestial spheres of love and light beyond. 

But O, to me, to her, my friend, this seemed 

As nought compared with that which after came- 

An inspiration from the man of God. 

His theme was this : As ye the image of 

The earthly have borne so also shall ye 

The image of the heavenly bear. Amazed, 

We listened to the grand, o'erpowering 

Eloquence poured forth ; combining depth of 

Knowiedge, wisdom profound, sublimity 

Of thought, with far-sighted visions of the 

Future. The retrospective of the past, 

In brief, no charms exhibit ; serving only 

To render more apparent the glorious 

Chain of endless progression. From each dead 

Relict of the past is born a something 

Higher and more enduring ; from each 

Memento treasured deep, arises hopes 

Cherished and borne on wings of love unto 

A bright, a living and endless future ; 

From ev'ry ruin of grandeur crumbling 

To dust ; comes a structure more lofty, grand : 

In place of ignorance and cruel despotism 

Of past ages ; come minds of intellect 

And noble deeds of justice and mercy ; 

From every thought enkindled in the 

Human breast ; spring myriads of thoughts more 

Lofty, grand and pure ; from out the depths of 

Wild despair, remorseful sin ; conceptions 

Of a changeless love, unbroken ties, fair 

Visions of future bliss where death and sin 

Cannot enter. The past we recall not, 

The present scarce enjoy : On, on ! the swift 

Impelling current hastens us ; we reach 

Beyond the realms of space, if space there be, 

Our faint conceptions grow more clear, assume 

A living, acting semblance of the divine ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 329 

Each new idea, however strange it 
May at first appear, is clothed in the 
Habiliments of eternal progression. 
As said the controlling spirit : The first 
Easter-morn, known only to a few, and 
Comprehended by none, was but the precursor 
Of a more glorious Easter-morn, universally 
Acknowledged and observed as such ; the 
Rolling of the stone from the sepulchre 
Of Christ was but the foreshadowing of 
The time when all sepulchres shall be open ; 
And may we not also believe the time 
Will come when angels, visible to our 
Material sight, shall, as on that occasion, 
Hover round or near our dear ones all, 
In that hour of sweet release, spirit birth? 
And will they not say unto us, as did 
Those bright and shining ones unto the Mary's : 
Why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? why 
Seek ye the living among the dead? Behold, 
They are not here. Risen, indeed, yet soon 
Like him, the Crucified, unto their dear ones 
They '11 return, and manifest the power divine ; 
Will say, like him, Lo, I am with you alway, 
Even unto the end ; fear not ; peace be 
Unto you ; and ye that believe, my works 
Shall ye do, and I will work with you, and 
Signs and wonders shall follow. Believe ye 
This, my friends? Nay, as in those days, the 
Multitudes believe not ; the blood-guilty 
Fear and tremble ; others receive it as 
An idle tale : of the very elect 
Some doubt ; even while their eyes behold, their 
Ears receive the demonstrable evidence. 
Our Lord did his disciples rebuke for 
Their slowness of heart in believing what 
The prophets had foretold and what their own 



330 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Eyes beheld ; saying, Blessed are they that 
Have not seen, and yet have believed. 

Now as John the Baptist was the forerunner 

Of the promised Messiah, even so was 

That Messiah the forerunner, the typifier 

Of the progressive unfoldment of the 

Powers that be. His was the voice of one 

Crying in the wilderness of sinful 

Ignorance, superstition, and mortal 

Death, pleading in accents of tender love 

And compassion for all the human race, 

Substituting and proclaiming the blessed 

Gospel of harmonic accord, whose chief 

Component is charity, charity, 

Sweet-abounding, never-ending charity ; 

Whose aspiration brings inspiration 

From on high ; whose mortal fears shall all, at 

Length, become submerged, and from their carcass 

Issue forth the heaven-born life and hope 

Of spiritual liberty and glorious 

Immortality ! His body perished, 

His spirit ever lives. The truths he taught 

Endure ; wide-spread are they — millions receive, 

Believe his words, whose eyes have not beheld, 

Whose ears have never heard his mighty voice. 

And thus the grand, progressive scale ascends 

Into sublimer heights, in majesty 

Arrayed ; new prophecies it showers forth, 

Eclipsing all the by-gone ones of old. 

Each revelation of the past opens 

Up the way for revelations more to 

Come ; each mystery solved but only points 

To deeper mysteries, closer veiled ; each soul 

Who leaves this earthly sphere forms one 

New link in nature's chain 'twixt earth and heaven. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 331 

Roll on, ye mighty ages, roll ! and bring 
Us tidings from afar. From every land 
And zone, O, usher in the glorious cry, 
'Tis Easter here, 'tis Easter there ! we'll join 
The anthems from the skies, and all, at length, 
Partake of glorious Easter joys on high. 

At the request of my spirit friends, and with the permission of 
the earthly friend who was the recipient of the same, I insert the 
following. I have not had the pleasure of meeting the writer, 
although her " Ma " is a very dear friend, whose kindness and 
sympathy are warmly cherished by the detestable " Yankee." 

" Tell Ma that I am surprised to hear that a woman of her ex- 
cellent good sense could be so taken in by some Yankee fraud 
fooling with spirits. It 's a pack of nonsense gotten up by sharp 
Yankees to cheat unsuspecting credulous people out of the " al- 
mighty dollar," the god they worship. It has been clearly proved 
to be a humbug. Look at the exposures of some of the greatest 
pretended Spiritualists of the day. No, 't is a fraud of the worst 
kind, and the miserable wretches that go through the country 
deceiving people and stealing from them, should be arrested and 
put in a penitentiary at hard labor. I 'd rather believe in ghosts 
and hobgoblins of all sorts than such a pack of stuff. Tell Ma 
I am surprised at her. They are smart to select certain subjects, 
those of a nervous, excitable temperament. Everybody can't hear 
voices and see people from the 'spirit land.' only those easily influ- 
enced. Tell Ma her stomach is out of order; if she gets her sys- 
tem, especially nervous system, in a good, healthy condition, she 
will soon laugh at all the spirits she hears and sees. 

My health is gradually improving; sick, nervous headaches 
often, but upon the whole, better. For the first time in my life I 
can use liquors to advantage. A small quantity daily does me 
good ; once, I dared not touch anything of the kind. I want you, 
as a special favor, to send me, by express, two or three gallons of 
good peach brandy, not apple or whiskey, but peach. It agrees 
with me when every thing else fails. Tell Ma if she will not urge 
you to send it, I will send the spirit of old Abshire [he was the 
terror of the community while in the form] to disturb her dreams.'' 



332 THE UNSEALED BOOK 

We pray thee, dear sister, to stop and consider 

How prone we all are from wisdom to wander 

There are, as you say, imposing delusions ; 

But do not too hastily jump at conclusions. 

If all is but nonsense, O, whence sprang it forth? 

There cannot be fraud unless there is truth ; 

Nor can there be a counterfeit made 

Without first the real to serve for a guide. 

As to fooling with spirits — Pray how can we fool 

With what there is not ? We cannot control 

The " dollar almighty ; " and, as to its worship, 

Ere the prayer is formed the dollar 's gone up, 

Notwithstanding the sharpness you augur, 

Scarce leaving enough to pay for our dinner ; 

Though, thanks be to God, we have plenty to eat 

And never did yet our landlady cheat. 

As to ghosts and hobgoblins, alas, alas ! 

You do well to believe ; for a numerous class 

All clothed in the darkness of night go forth ; 

They howl, and they walk to and fro upon earth ; 

They seek to deceive by their ill-gotten power, 

Selecting, of course, with sedulous care, 

Such only as they can easily ensnare, 

And hope, in process of time, to devour. 

If these be the spirits you really choose 

To believe and receive, pray do not abuse 

The bright ones, the pure ones, who in broad light of day 

Chase all the dark shadows and goblins away. 

I have only yet spoken of things I opine 

Were not fully weighed in that mind of thine ; 

Ideas half-fledged, from their shell burst forth, 

Their sweetness all withered by premature birth. 

I speak with great freedom for I have been there, 

And your demisemiquavers can readily share : 

I do make, even now, no great pretense, 

Submitting unto your excellent good sense 

My own candidly-avowed opinion ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 333 

For argument bold, — your supreme dominion — 

May serve to unfold the germ of the mind 

In us both, may be, leaving error behind. 

In all that remains, I am with you, sincerely 

Endorsing the same most truly and fully : 

Of all the vile frauds that e'er have been known, 

There can be none worse than trampling upon 

The connecting links of that beautiful chain, 

"Which unites sons of earth with their loved in heaven. 

Those who do go forth to steal and deceive, 

The reward for their labors will duly receive : 

Poor, miserable wretches are they, indeed, 

Who had, as you say, better earn their bread 

By labors inside penitentiary walls, 

Until they will listen to their God, who calls 

Each innermost thought, each deed to account, 

And strengthens each purpose of good intent. 

The humbug, you say, has been " clearly proven 

(We accept your statement, wisely chosen,) 

By the exposure of some of the greatest 

Pretended spiritualists." This protest 

Could not have been more judiciously made, 

More truly sanctioned by the great Fountain-head ; 

For be ye assured, 'tis only the pretended 

Whom exposure can reach. The truths engendered 

In Spiritualism all tests can defy ; 

The power, and the wisdom, come from God on high. 

All may not, it is true, hear voices, see faces, 
From the spirit-land ; some who are nervous, 
Their system disordered, seejirst the hobgoblins, 
But if they are wise, they '11 endeavor to cleanse 
The nerves of their system, their physical health 
Keep in good condition ; then spirits of worth 
Will doubtless succeed the ghosts of hobgoblins, 
Who feed on distress, and give for returns 
To their credulous friends, the tale of a demon 



334 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Who rules quite too well his subjects, named Legion, 

But who is less strong than he seems at first 

When crowing so boldly as cock of the roost ; 

He 's plump and well fed, will make a good dinner, 

If cooked by a saint, though raised by a sinner. 

As I know your dear Ma, I 'd kindly suggest, 

A spirit congenial could aid you the most : 

For to her, the spirit of " old Abshire" 

Will never be able to get very near. 

Her own cherished brother, versed in heavenly lore, 

Her dearly loved children, passed on before, 

O, these are the spirits who come at her call, 

And leave a glad welcome for you and for all. 

They come not with solemn and ghostly tread, 

Proclaiming themselves to be morally dead. 

One comes in the strength of his manly prime : 

The others, as in their bright young spring-time , 

All merry and happy as children should be, 

Your Ma's hearty laugh but adds to their glee. 

Good-by, my dear friend : I trust that in time, 

New beauties you'll see, in the teachings sublime 

Which spirits above to mortals below 

So freely, and truly, do strive to convey, 

And will, by your own sweet accorded requests, 

Have only the good, and the pure, for your guests. 



At the earnest solicitation of the friend who received the fore- 
going letter, I insert his reply to the writer thereof. I demurred 
on account of the " soft soap " it contains, and which should be 
interpreted only as a piece of pleasantry. I will further say he 
is the only conscious contributor to this work, being the only 
friend who is aware of its character. 

" Well now, Jennie, is it not a shame that you should write 
such invectives against a poor, despised and forlorn Christian 
lady, who has the good of you, and all she comes in contact with, 
at heart. A woman who would spend the last cent she had on 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 335 

earth to serve the needy and feed the hungry — a woman of all 
women I ever saw who came any ways near the spiritual injunc- 
tion ' do unto others as you would have them do unto you/ 

Were you acquainted with her and found out her good quali- 
ties, you would exclaim in surprise : Did I ever see such a good, 
unselfish creature in all my life ! How cruel it was in me to 
abuse her to my Ma when I did not even know her name, to say 
nothing of her mission, her charitableness and unselfishness, 
though crosses and trials she has been subjected to through life's 
troublesome journey. How honest she is in all her dealings, 
and how frank she is in her spiritual manifestations and ex- 
periences ; no deceiving there — all truth and reliance upon that 
God who rules all heaven and earth by the same power and 
influence, that all may be brought to learn and love the spiritual 
communion whereby the salvation of the immortal souls travel- 
ing onward and upward through the i spheres ' of the spirit land, 
may finally reach the abode of those who learn to love and glorify 
the Redeemer of all mankind — the first great medium sent by 
God himself to appear in the form of man, to prove man's im- 
mortality, and that man never dies, but lives eternally. Christ's 
remark to the thief on the cross, ' This day shalt thou be with me 
in paradise,' proves that the grave held, or holds, nothing but the 
body. Christ re-appearing in the form, together with a multi- 
tude of other cases noted in the Scriptures, proves that spirits can 
come back and communicate ; and recent developments and sci- 
entific examinations prove that they do now communicate with 
us in various ways. 

Therefore, I beg of you to at least ' try the spirits.' For what- 
ever I say unto you, let it be understood that I wish you to be of 
good cheer, and grateful for the privileges you enjoy, and allow 
the same to all who live conscientiously and deserve respect for 
the opinions they give. Let this experience be of a lasting na- 
ture, and a treasure of wealth in the future, when the dismal days 
come when work and toil ceases, and a general cleaning-up of a 
life-time of discord and trouble — the trash thrown to one side, 
and the bright, burnished vessels of love and gratitude arranged 
for inspection by the great ' I Am ' — the sweet smiles of a good 
conscience, with pleasant recollections of past deeds of goodness 
radiating and enlivening the scene around which centres the 
precious memory of a well-spent life in securing a foot-hold in 



336 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

that spirit-land, where all may learn that this earth is not the 
real home of mankind, and that we were not made to be damned 
because of bad, or no, teachings suitable to our understanding, 
and that punishment follows according to grades of wickedness 
enacted, and that a bright and glorious future may be obtained 
by improvement of the will-spirit in fortifying ourselves against 
all wicked, lying influences, and building up good and holy influ- 
ences to be ever guided by them in exchange — to aid the faith 
that is in us, that we may rise high above the spheres of earthly 
influences to an everlasting abode among the great and good who 
have gone on before us, rejoicing in the glorious redemption of 
man and his reception on the bright hills of Zion." 



The following extract is from the letter of an intimate and 
kindly-cherished friend, but whose criticism on our first work, 
which has been already inserted in this, was so intensely severe, 
it gave us much surprise, especially so, coming from one enter- 
taining, as we had reason to believe, similar views to our own. 
In consideration of this fact, we deem it but* just that her own 
vindication should also be made public, having never for a mo- 
ment doubted the sincerity of her personal friendship. 



"I find a good many ready to discourage me in the course I 
am taking, but they fail utterly in changing my determination ; 
why, it is a part of my life ; how could I give it up ? I did not 
know but that in sending my last letter I should lose your friend- 
ship forever, and really think I deserve to do so. Although I 
wrote it, I did not compose one word of it myself, and I hesitated 
long before sending it, as some of it did not at all accord with my 
mind. There are truths in your book, which, did people know and 
understand, would elevate them immeasurably from what they are 
now. You are spending your strength, time, and life itself in 
search after, and helping others to find, the true way, and if you 
are not appreciated here, in the upper realms you are known and 
understood. Yours is a beautiful life, filled with self-sacrifice 
from which the strongest nature would shrink. It do n't seem, 
now, that I could live such a life ; but no one knows their powers 
of endurance until tried. It seems to me lately that I am not 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 337 

growing much toward the better life, only I am trying to be more 
patient toward others ; but it is a long, hard struggle which people 
with angelic dispositions know nothing of." 

Servant of the living God, for truly 

Thou art such, should I blame thee for nobly 

Performing a duty imposed upon thee 

By a spirit of wisdom far exceeding, 

Thine or mine ? Nay, far be it from me. Had 

It been the language of thine own heart, I 

Might have said, The wounds of a friend are faithful ; 

I might have known that for each pang of pain 

Thou didst unwillingly inflict, a sharper 

Dart did pierce thine own unflinching soul. These 

Were, indeed, the thoughts which first unto me 

Came ; but as I mused and pondered well, a 

Light broke in upon my soul, and I exclaimed, 

Surely, some spirit hath done this, and with 

A wise intent ; I must search out the purpose 

Deftly hid, apply the same, a lesson 

From it glean. Then came to me such thoughts as 

These : As is thy friend in thine eyes, so art 

Thou in the eyes of those thou fain wouldst instruct ; 

As she, in years, hath not attained thine age, 

Thou scarce from her, instruction would expect, 

Or heed ; 't is thus with thine and thee ; themselves 

They think more capable of thee instructing ; 

Thy friend was once with thee in mind and heart ; 

Then how is this ? She has of course been led 

Astray, at least it so unto you appears ; 

You blame her not, doubt not her integrity 

Of heart and purpose, would willingly and 

Gladly her aid and restore. This, then, is 

A fair representation of thine own 

Life and labors in the estimation 

Of thine earthly friends ; their sentiments they 

From thee withold, condemming thee not, but 



338 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Saying within themselves, Poor child ! she 's been 
Led astray. I am so sorry for her ! 

As thoughts like these my bosom filled, a peace 
Serene stole o'er my soul, while in my heart 
I said, The Lord my God hath spoken once, 
And in his own good time he will vouchsafe 
This death-like silence to remove, restore 
Me to my loved and loving ones once more. 
As she, my friend, by higher ones impressed, 
Did fill my soul with wonderment ; so I, 
Likewise, a wonder am unto mine own. 
As I at first saw not behind the veil, 
Imputing to my friend what she d eclares 
Herself did not one word compose ; so they 
Do unto me ascribe all which through me 
Has been produced. As time soon wrought in me 
A change, my spirit-vision did unseal ; 
So, likewise, will they behold a power divine, 
Give to the Lord the honor due, seek truth 
Alone, and it embrace wherever found, 
However clothed ; the texture of its robes 
Is sometimes wrought in finest gold : again, 
Unseemly coarse its garb. This last we feel, 
Might well apply unto the "work" issued 
By us. Yet truth is there, unpolished though 
It be. 

Our thanks, kind friend, for all which you to us 
Have given. The last from thee, seems more like to 
Thyself : yet for the first we thank thee most, 
And well thou knowest why : to give, 'tis said, 
More blessed is than to receive ; yet in 
Our case this rule will not apply ; blessed 
Indeed are they who pleasure only are 
Called to give their loved ones ; when duty bids 
Us pain inflict, ourselves must bear by far 



THE UNSEALED BOOK 339 

The largest share. We feel thou hast our goodness 

Overrated much ; what e'er in us is 

Praiseworthy, comes from a power beyond ourselves. 

May heaven's choicest blessings thee attend, 
Guiding unto the better life thou art 
Seeking. Patience a virtue is, truly : 
Angelic its attainments, for but few it 
Possess, without strivings numberless. 



Where little is expressed, much is often implied ; for example : 
" As to our difference of opinion, I think we had better not allude 
to it; you need not have any fears, but what if G-od wants me 
converted to some new belief, and I say it with all reverence, he 
will find out his own way." 



Pray don't be alarmed, I know the good Lord 

Has all in his sacred keeping ; 
Yet none can partake of heavenly food, 

While they do prefer sound sleeping. 
If you think that I your soul's conversion 

Would undertake, you are, alas, 
Deceiving yourself, and quite mistaken ; 

I labor for a wiser class. 
I hear all around, friends asking for bread, 

In tones which show they it do crave ; 
And all such as these 'tis pleasure to feed 

With manna sent from heaven above. 
Unless disarranged, the stomach will tell 

What kind of food, when it requires 
The same ; 'tis needless then, to it assail, 

And worse than useless, food to force. 
If ye darkness choose in the place of light, 

O, slumber on till you awake, 
And find by the sun's meridian height 
You 're quite behindhand with your work. 



340 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Your neighbors arose ere the sun grew hot, 
Their hardest tasks performed with ease 

And now have found them a cool retreat, 
Where they enjoy the gentle breeze. 

For "if the God within says 'well done/ what are other gods 
to thee ? " " This God is our God for ever and ever : He will be 
our guide even unto death." 

A friend thus writes : " If you have not found the haven of 
mental peace, you are only like others, that could be numbered 
by millions. Pure mental contentment is not for this sphere ; we 
may find it beyond. I have passed through the storm, but 
whether unhurt or not I cannot as yet say ; at any rate, I have 
learned many things, of which I was before either ignorant, or 
unmindful ; and I have often asked myself, Have I paid more 
than I have received, or received more than I have paid ? but I 
cannot decide. I have often wished myself thousands of miles 
away, where I might work out my own destiny unfettered, among 
new scenes and surroundings. Life is a mystery that each soul 
must solve for itself, for good or for evil : and in many cases we 
cannot tell which is which; what we call evil or good to-day, is 
reversed to-morrow : it has been so through all ages, and will so 
continue to the end. You are leaving behind you the teachings 
of former years, and breaking away from the system of religion 
called orthodoxy ; I knew you would, and am glad of it. It has 
been good in its day, but the day of its usefulness is past, for as 
it is preached to-day, it does not contain one particle of inherent 
truth ; it is an obstruction, a barricade, that checks the progress 
of truth, and would crush unto death both you and me, and all 
like us, who desire truth, no matter from whence it comes, or 
whither it goeth; but I must not complain, — whatever is, is 
right, I suppose. Keep up good courage, do n't give up the ship ; 
Eight will triumph over error, as surely as the day succeeds the 
night." 

As to having found an haven of mental peace, friend, your own 
rendering — mental contentment — expresses more correctly our 
sentiments, " for we feel that as yet we have caught but the first 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 341 

beams of a glorious day, now dawning, whose light shall be such 
as earth has never yet seen. Like dwellers in the shady valley, 
who have begun to ascend the mountains that before had limited 
their view, and are enabled to take in a wider range of vision, 
we see those eminences of truth which once seemed the very pil- 
lars of heaven, over-topped by others then hidden from view, but 
of still greater magnitude, and the whole landscape assumes a 
new appearance. Thus we expect the view will continue to 
change and to enlarge as we ascend, and we know not what 
heights are before us. For e it shall come to pass in the last days 
that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the 
top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all 
nations shall flow unto it/ These ' last days,' so long predicted, 
we believe are now dawning upon the world." 

Life, as you say, is a mystery which each soul must solve for 
itself; for in all this wide, created universe, there exists no two 
souls in such perfect harmony with each other that they arrive at 
exactly the same conclusions, or whose conceptions of good and 
evil are one and the same. Truth is incapable of change, though 
continually subverted by our misconceptions regarding it; and 
may we not say the same of good and evil ? Each new develop- 
ment of philosophy, science, or religion which forces itself upon 
us, awakens within us new convictions, absolutely expelling old- 
established opinions which cannot be adjusted by, and are in op- 
position to, demonstrable truths. 



" Alas for human reason ! all is change 

Ceaseless and strange ; 
All ages form new systems, leaving heirs 

To cancel theirs : 
The future can but imitate the past, 
And instability alone will last. 

Is there no compass left, by which to steer 

This erring sphere ? 

No tie that may indissolubly bind 

To God mankind ? 

No code that may defy time's sharpest tooth ? 

No fixed, immutable, unerring truth ? 

There is ! there is ! — one primitive and sure 

Religion pure, 



342 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Unchanged in spirit, though its forms and codes 

Wear myriad modes, 
Contains all creeds within its mighty span — 
The love of God, displayed in love of man." 



u The same process will continue to be required, till men shall 
see the folly of attempting to confine their expanding natures 
within the infantile garments of the past, or to crowd a universe 
of truth into the meagre limits of a creed." If this be what is 
inferred by " breaking away from orthodoxy" I fully accord with 
you in sentiment, totally disregarding all obligations or limita- 
tions, either expressed or implied, which are inconsistent with 
my present views, or may hereafter be found to conflict with the 
progressive unfoldings of future enlightenment ; at the same time 
I feel assured that there are countless numbers of " regularly con- 
stituted " orthodox pastors and preachers who teach theoretically, 
and often unconsciously to themselves, the great fundamental 
principles upon which spiritualism, ancient and modern, is based, 
thus educating and preparing the minds of their hearers for the 
acceptation of the theory which they advance and promulgate, 
but fail to realize or acknowledge. 



" Superstition must throw off Religion's disguise ; 
For men, now enlightened, not darkling like owls, 
While they reverence priests who are holy and wise, 
Will no longer be hoodwinked by cassocks or cowls. 

Nay, even in England, my latest stronghold, 

And the firmest support of my paramount sway 

(In Gath or in Askelon be it not told), 

All my orthodox bulwarks are crumbling away. 

And what though each orthodox candidate swears 
To my thirty-nine Articles ; ' tis but a jest, 

Since a bishop {prohpudor!), a bishop declares, 

That such oaths are a form, never meant as a test. 

But now when men, turning from dogmas to deeds, 
Bear the scriptural dictum of Jesus in mind, 

That salvation depends not on canons and creeds, 
But on love of the Lord, and love of our kind, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK 343 

My voice can be heard and ray arguments weighed ; 

Which explains why such numerous converts of late 
Are under my love-breathing standard arrayed, 

Who once, beneath yours, were excited to hate." 

Nay, friend, to "give up the ship/' would be not only an absurd- 
ity, but an impossiblity. If our courage falters, it is from no 
doubts as to the ministry of angels, for neither you nor I could fail 
to recognize the innumerable tokens of their angelic interposition 
and care; although it might be said of us, as of Mr. and Mrs. 
Newton : " They do not find this ministry to be exercised merely, 
or mainly, for the purpose of promoting worldly interests, of sav- 
ing from the perplexities and mistakes incidental to the legiti- 
mate use of their proper faculties. Nor yet altogether for the 
purpose of smoothing the pathway of life, and of preserving from 
trials, or even from sufferings of the intensest nature. In this, 
however, they recognize the highest wisdom; for they have 
learned that trials, perplexities, struggles, are indispensable to a 
vigorous growth ; that suffering is the refiner's fire ; and hence, 
that in a true and wise discipline, these must be expected to have 
their part. Those who lack this rugged experience, are likely to 
be infantile and imbecile. Exalted privileges are to be obtained 
only at corresponding costs. Hence, the higher offices of angelic 
ministration, are not so much to save from this kind of experience, 
as to impart inward strength, to give spiritual illumination, to 
inspire with celestial love, and to lead at length to complete repose 
in the Divine. Such aid enables all tried, and struggling, and 
suffering ones, not to escape the cross, but by it, to rise to loftier 
and nobler realizations of life." Right, as you say, must prevail 
over wrong. Truth, mighty, ever-blessed truth, must and will 
triumph over error. ! may it spread, — 

" Till earth, redeemed from every hateful leaven, 
Makes peace with heaven : 
Below, one blessed brotherhood of love ; 
One Father, worshiped with one voice, above ! " 



Yea, we will boldly speak and live the truth as it is revealed 
unto us, despite the persecutions of those who dare not acknowl- 
edge or receive a truth not recognized in the canons of the Church. 



344 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

If we have been made the recipients of a higher knowledge, a 
more excellent wisdom, it is by and through the grace and power 
of tne infinite and eternal God whom we serve. Did the fate of 
a martyr await ns, we could pursue none other course; were the 
dungeon, the rack, and the fagot, staring us in the face, we could 
only say with Luther, " Mat God help us : we can speak no 
othekwise." Then let us labor boldly still, and bravely stem 
the rolling tide, most truly thankful if it be 

"Our happy fate 
To drop some tribute, trifling though it prove, 
On the thrice-hallowed altar dedicate 
To man's improvement, truth, and social love. 

Faith in our race's elevation, 

And its incessant progress to the goal, 
Tends, by existing hope and emulation, 

To realize the aspirings of the soul. 

How sweet it is, when wearied with the jars 
Of wrangling sects, each soured with bigot leaven, 

To let the spirit burst its prison bars, 
And soar into the deep repose of Heaven! " 

From a pamphlet entitled " The Ministry of Angels Kealized," 
being a letter addressed to the Edwards Congregational Church, 
Boston, by Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Newton, members of that church, 
we extract the following symbolic and instructive visions : " Those 
selected for description here are necessarily brief and simple, and 
the descriptions have been written out from memory, months 
after the visions were given, by one who simply listened to their 
recital when given ; and hence they afford but a meagre idea of 
the beauty of the language, or the gorgeousness and exquisite ap- 
propriateness of the imagery, employed in more elaborate and 
profound representations." 

THE CARPET WEAVERS. 

[This vision was given in the presence of a large company of 
persons, mostly strangers to the visionist, assembled for social 
purposes. She perceived that great numbers of spirits were pres- 
ent, all urgent to make themselves known to their earthly friends ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 345 

but seeing that to be impracticable on the occasion, they had con- 
sulted together, and decided that one or two of the more advanced 
of their number should present something which might convey 
pleasure and profit to all. A panoramic scene then opened before 
her vision, which she described as it passed, not having herself 
the slightest idea, in advance, of what was to follow. The follow- 
ing will give but a faint conception of it.] 

" I see each person present engaged in weaving a carpet. These 
carpets are symbolic of your varied lives. The magnetic life-cords 
which unite your hearts with the infinite Source of life form the 
warp of these carpets, and your every act, and word, and thought, 
are the filling, which, day by day, and hour by hour, you are 
weaving in. Some of your carpets, I perceive, are very beautiful ; 
the figures are all perfectly formed, the fabric is soft and pleas- 
ant to walk upon, while those of others are badly woven : they 
have made mistakes sometimes, and have been obliged to go back, 
take out their work, and do it over again ; and when done the 
second time, it looks botched and imperfect ; the figures are badly 
formed, they do not match well, and nobody walks upon them 
with pleasure. By describing thus the carpet which I see each one 
forming, I could doubtless give the characteristics and something 
of the life-history of each individual present. [This same symbol 
was once afterwards repeated in the presence of some four or five 
individuals, equally strangers to the visionist ; and all acknowledged 
that their characters, and the important incidents of their lives, for 
many years in the past, were correctly symbolized in the widely 
varying descriptions which were presented.] But as that might 
not be pleasant to all, I am directed to select one of the more beau- 
tiful, and give you some account of that. It is the richest and 
the softest that I ever saw. Angels even love to walk upon it and 
admire its beauties, while to the foot-sore and weary of earth it 
is specially grateful. The weaver has just completed a most superb 
figure in her carpet. It represents a basket or boquet of flowers. 
They are so fresh and real that the very perfume exhales upon 
the atmosphere, and little cherubs, like humming-birds, gather 
sweetness from the opening buds. The angels say that upon the 
under side of the carpet may be seen a picture of the scene in the 
life of the weaver, which has formed the pattern by which this 
beautiful figure has been wrought. They let me look upon the 
under side, and this is the picture I see : A lady is passing along 



346 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

the street on a cold December day ; she sees, standing upon a 
corner, a poor boy, miserably clad, and bare-footed, with a basket 
on his arm ; he is crying. Other ladies, richly attired, have heard 
his sobs, but have passed haughtily and unfeelingly by. This 
lady stops, and asks him why he weeps. He says, "My poor 
mother is sick at home ; I have no father ; we have no fire 
or wood ; my little sisters are crying of cold and hunger, and I 
do n't know what to do." Her heart is touched ; she tells him 
she will go home with him, and see if he tells a true tale. She 
accompanies him to a cheerless home, and finds all too true. She 
at once supplies their needs, sends a physician, and hope and joy 
dawn once more on those suffering ones. This is the deed which 
has formed so beautiful and rich a figure in this carpet. [The 
lady to whom this applied was almost a stranger to us, and 
we never learned whether the scene described had actually taken 
place, only we were informed, by those acquainted with her, that 
she was in -the habit of doing just such things,'] and you who 
would weave a life-carpet soft with the living verdure of kind acts, 
and rich with the perfume of loving deeds, a carpet on which 
those who come after you may delight to walk, and which angels 
may condescend to admire, — go and do likewise" 

THE LAMB. 

[A young man called one day upon Mrs. N. for sympathy and 
consolation. He was in deep affliction, having been treated with 
great injustice and severity, at a time of physical illness, by those 
upon whom he was dependent. As she sat conversing with him, 
the following scene was presented to her vision :] 

" I see before me a little lamb, meek and gentle ; and near by, 
stands what appears to be a shepherd. The shepherd has a most be- 
nignant countenance, and is clothed in a fleecy robe of the softest 
and purest white. The lamb looks upon this resplendent robe, 
and then upon its own fleece; and, by the comparison, it sees the 
latter to be coarse, and dark, and soiled. It appears to desire a 
purer fleece, and to ask the shepherd how it shall obtain a gar- 
ment like his own. The shepherd tells the lamb that if it ear- 
nestly desires to become whiter, it must submit to the bleaching 
process, and asks if it is willing to pass through suffering in order 
to attain the desired object. The lamb hesitates a moment, and 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 347 

then seems to answer, ' Yes ; I will endure anything, if I can 
only have a robe as white as yours.' The shepherd then points 
to a storm that is raging, and tells the lamb that if it will stand 
out in that storm, its fleece will be purified; and he then disap- 
pears. The lamb bravely meets the storm ; the rain beats heavily 
upon it, the cold winds chill it ; none of its companions are near 
to give it sympathy; it trembles and bleats, and sometimes al- 
most sinks under the trial. But at length the storm has passed, 
and the shepherd comes again. The little fleece has indeed been 
made much whiter ; but, alas ! the poor lamb sees that it is yet 
nowhere near as white as the shepherd's robe. 

The shepherd asks if it still desires to have a robe like his own, 
and if it is willing to pass through another purifying process. 
Tremblingly and trustingly the little creature still answers, Yes; 
and then the shepherd directs his attendants to make certain 
necessary preparations. They bring what looks like a large urn 
or vase, and invert it over the lamb, so as to inclose the little 
creature beyond the possibility of escape. Then they bring a fur- 
nace of living coals, and place that, too, underneath the inverted 
vase. Ah ! it is very hot in there ; but there is no retreat for the 
little sufferer. I see that the bottom of the vase is formed of 
glass, so that, as it is inverted, the lamb can look out from its 
prison-house directly upwards, but in no other direction. As the 
heat increases it glances imploringly up through the opening, 
and its eyes catch those of the tender shepherd, bending over, 
and looking most benignantly and encouragingly down upon it. 
Fixing its eyes upon the shepherd's, it finds itself able to stand 
nearer and still nearer the furnace, and to endure greater and 
still greater degrees of heat. It bleats with pain, and cries out 
for release. 

The shepherd says, c A little longer ; the more you endure, the 
whiter will be your fleece.' 0, how it swelters, and struggles, 
and bleats ! Now the word is given, and release is granted. 
Trembling and weak, the little sufferer sees that its fleece has 
been made, 0, so much ivliiter ! But still it finds that it is not 
even yet as pure as the Master's. Now it sees a number of its 
companions approaching ; they have been wandering through 
rugged and thorny paths ; their fleeces have been torn from their 
sides, which are bleeding with wounds ; they are cold, and weak 
with hunger. Prompted by kindly impulses, the lamb goes to 



348 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

meet them ; it presses its own soft and warm fleece against their 
naked sides, and, wherever it does so, its fleece adheres to them, 
making them warm and beautiful, but leaving itself naked. It 
continues thus to hover around these needy ones, until, in self- 
forgetfulness, it has parted entirely with the beautiful fleece it had 
suffered so much to acquire. Then it goes meekly away by itself, 
and lies down to repose, seeming to say, with perfect trust, ' The 
Good Shepherd will take care of me, even though I have no fleece.' 
Now I see, descending from the skies, a large, white dove. As it 
extends its ample wings, I perceive them lined with a profusion of 
what looks like the softest eider down. The dove hovers over 
the sleeping lamb, and shelters it beneath its brooding wings. 
Now it soars away again to the skies, leaving the lamb all enveloped 
in a downy fleece, soft and pure as the shepherd's robe" 

THE CROSS AND ITS SIGNATURE. 

[Sitting one evening with Mrs. N, — one other individual, who 
had casually come in, being present, — she became unexpectedly 
conscious of the approach of a spiritual being, whom she described 
as a female, and as excelling in brightness and beauty. The in- 
terview which succeeded was substantially as follows :] 

" The angel says, ' I am a messenger from the seventh circle. I 
come as a representative from the abode of harmony and peace, to 
unfold to you a new and more glorious pathway to this abode 
than has ever yet been open to your conceptions ! ' She leads on, 
and I follow. We are ascending a pathway. There are mountains 
on either side, and the scenery, the flowers, the rocks, the trees, 
everything as we pass along is full of significance ; but I cannot 
fully perceive nor describe its meaning. The atmosphere is purer 
as we advance, and now it seems more refined than any I ever 
breathed before. Now we have reached an eminence, and my 
guide bids me pause and look. I see before me representations 
of the scenes, first of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and 
then on the Cross of Calvary. How vivid and impressive ! But 
I am called to pass on. Now we have ascended a much higher 
eminence, from which, as I look down, the whole world appears 
spread out before me, with all its people and their busy avocations. 
I see that in all the varied paths of human life, crosses are erected 
on almost every eminence. There are great numbers of them, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 349 

one for each individual. I see many human beings who are, ap- 
parently, voluntarily ascending these crosses, and crucifying 
themselves. Each one is assisted by bright, attending angels, who, 
though invisible to the sufferers, have walked with them through 
the rugged pathway of their lives, and who appear to hold one 
hand as each ascends the cross. Nails appear to be driven through 
from the back side of the wood, so that on their sharp, protrud- 
ing points, each one can suspend himself. Now I see that when 
the agony of crucifixion is over, and death has apparently ensued, 
the kind angels take them- down, and gently lay them in the 
sepulchre. Soon I beheld them risen, looking more spiritual 
than before. They pass out of the sepulchre by another door. 
As they come forth they are clad in beautiful and shining garments; 
and 0, they look so happy and so angel -like ! But I am told 
that even these are not the most beautiful robes they will wear. 
Still brighter garments will be given them as they advance. Paths 
open before them, leading yet onward and upward towards bright 
summits in the far distance. Some, I see, have toiled onward till 
they have reached the top of a distant mountain; and there they 
receive other and more shining garments as a reward for their 
toils. But they rest not here ; they travel still onward and up- 
ward; they reach still loftier summits, and are clad in still bright- 
er robes, till at length they disappear amid the splendors of the 
celestial mountains. And I see that all along their ascending 
way, as a beacon-light, and as a guide to their footsteps, have 
been borne those same crosses on which they crucified themselves 
on earth, changed into brilliant crosses of light. 

" The angel now gives me the explanation. It is this : The 
great mistake in the church, in whose teachings you have been 
instructed, has been that of looking for a future salvation as the 
purchase for you of the sufferings of another, and expecting to 
receive it by passively trusting to what another has done in your 
behalf. Instead of this, all who would be followers of the Christ, 
and attain the benefits of his salvation, must themselves be cruci- 
fied ; must, voluntarily and for themselves, ascend the cross, pass 
through the sepulchre, and be raised to a new life, as was Jesus 
the Nazarene. In other words, in proportion as the lower or grosser 
nature — selfishness, lust, pride, love of ease, of wealth, of worldly 
distinction, everything which would degrade and hold in check 
the spiritual nature, in proportion as these are curbed, denied, 



350 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

or crucified, to that extent does each one rise to a higher life, and 
enjoy a constant salvation. This is the true salvation — a deliv- 
erance from sin, from grossness, from all lower forms of enjoy- 
ment, and an elevation to that which is higher and purer ; and it 
is to be realized in the present, and not put off to a distant future. 
These crucifixions and resurrections may take place daily, hourly ; 
and the more thoroughly their purifying work is done, the more 
completely will you live in heaven, even while you stay on earth. 

" This is the salvation which Jesus taught, both by precept and 
example. He said, 'He that believeth on me hath everlasting 
life. 5 During all his earthly career he crucified his lower nature; 
that is, he denied all gross and sensual enjoyments, and lived the 
inner and higher life. And his death at last, on a cross of wood, 
was but the shadow, the external symbol of what his whole life 
had been. Neither his death nor his life can save others, except 
so far as they follow his example, walk in his footsteps, become 
' crucified unto the world,' make his life and sufferings their own, 
and thus partake with him of the joys and rewards which crown 
with glory all such worthy lives. Thus is Jesus truly the Saviour 
of man, and only thus are they saved by him. Thus is he truly 
the bread of life to the soul ; and not merely in the external symbols 
of eating bread and drinking wine, in what is termed the com- 
munion-service, but in every sacrifice that is made, daily and 
hourly, for the good of others, or in obedience to the Father's 
will, does the true soul have communion with Jesus, and partake 
of his divine life. 

" Those who thus become partakers of his life, his sufferings, 
his death, also rise with him, or, as he did, to newness of life ; 
and this is the resurrection, the only resurrection in which these 
mortal bodies can ever partake. And as mortals thus crucify them- 
selves by renouncing all that is earthly and base, and by aspiring 
to the lofty and the spiritual, the good angels whom the Father 
sends to have charge over them in all their ways, are ever nigh to 
lend their aid. Gently they lay the pierced and bleeding ones 
in the sepulchre of external joys, and then assist them to rise to 
higher and nobler lives ; they bring them garments of purity and 
light, and point to the pathway of endless attainment which 
reaches on and up amid the Celestial Hills, ever bearing before 
them, as a beacon of encouragement and of light, the resplendent 
symbol of the cross." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 351 

Such was the lesson of this bright " messenger from the abode 
of harmony and peace." The reader will form his own estimate 
of its truthfulness and value ; but to the writer it presented that 
ancient symbol of Christianity in a new radiance. The cross, as 
thus interpreted, was seen to be the fitting emblem of all spiritual 
progress — the grand central idea, not merely of Christianity 
in its restricted sense, but of all redeeming truth. 

With a view of showing the similarity of sentiment between 
advanced minds of the present age and some which thrived nearly 
a century of years ago, we insert a poem from the writings of one 
who was the author of more than fifty volumes, prose and verse, 
many of which were published anonymously, and perhaps have 
never been acknowledged. They exhibit not only great industry, 
but also great tact and versatility in the writer. 

" With Horace Smith, literature and his city business Went hand 
in hand. Before he relinquished his counting-room a friend met 
him posting westward, one day, about three o'clock. 'Where 
are you going so fast, Smith ? ' ' Who would not go fast to 
Paradise (Paradise Row, Fulham) ? I am going to sin, like our 
first parents.' ' How ? There are no apples to pluck at Fulham 
yet.' ' No ; but there is ink to spill, though, a worse sin, per- 
haps. I have promised L something, I cannot tell what. 

Who the deuce can hit upon anything new, when half of the 
world is racking its brains to do the same thing?'" 

" This, " adds the reminiscent, who wrote a few months after 
the death of Horace, " this is thirty years ago, and now the utterer 
of that remark is in the precincts of the tomb, while the inter- 
vening time saw no diminution of his regard for intellectual pleas- 
ures, nor, with much to flatter his talents in the way of his literary 
labors, any decrease of that modest feeling in regard to his own 
writings, which is one of the strongest attestations of merit. 

"Leigh Hunt, in his expressive use of odd epithets, says that 
Horace Smith was 'delicious.' He never met with a finer 
nature in man, except in the single instance of Shelley, who him- 
self entertained the highest regard for Horace Smith, as may be 
seen by the following verses, the initials in which the reader may 
fill up with his name : 

' Wit and sense, 
Virtue and human knowledge, all that might 



352 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Make this dull world a business of delight, 
Are all combined in H. S/ 

Shelley once said to Leigh Hunt, ' I know not what Horace 
Smith must take me for sometimes. I am afraid he must think 
me a strange fellow ; but is it not odd that the only truly gener- 
ous person I ever knew, who had money to be generous with, 
should be a stock-broker ? And he writes poetry, too/ contin- 
ued Shelley, his voice rising in a fervor of astonishment ; ' he 
writes poetry and pastoral dramas, and yet knows how to make 
money, and does make it, and is still generous/ 'I believe/ 
said Shelley, on another occasion, 'that I have only to say to Hor- 
ace Smith that I want a hundred pounds or two, and he would 
send it to me without any eye to its being returned ; such faith 
has he that I have something within me beyond what the world 
supposes, and that I could only ask his money for a good purpose/ 
What Shelley says that Smith would have done for him, he was 
known more than once to have done for others, with a delicacy 
that enhanced the generosity of the act. 

His character is succinctly and beautifully described in the 
paragraph in which the London Examiner anounced his decease 
and paid a tribute to his memory. ' He was a man of correct 
taste, and the most generous sympathies ; a delightful writer, both 
in prose and verse ; a cheerful and wise companion, and a fast 
friend. No man had a wider range of admirable and genial qual- 
ities ; and far beyond that private circle of which he was the 
great charm and ornament, his loss will be deeply felt/ If it 
would be difficult to find words to convey more graceful and em- 
phatic praise, it would be equally so to find a man who, from all 
report, more fully deserves it than Hokace Smith," from whose 
intellect is the following : — 

THE SANCTUAKY. 

"In Israel was many a refuge city, 

Whereto the blameless homicide might flee, 
And claim protection, sustenance, and pity, 

Safe from the blood-avenger's enmity, 

Until the law's acquittal sent him thence, 

Free from offence. 

Round old cathedral, abbey-church, and palace, 
Did we ourselves a sanctuary draw, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 353 

Where no stern creditor could glut his malice, 

And even criminals might brave the law ; 
Nor judge nor justice in that chartered verge 
Their rights could urge. 

These times are gone ; felons and knavish debtors 
May mourn the change, but who bewails their case ? 

For why should God and king be made abettors 
Of guilt and fraud, the champions of the base ? 

Never may such a desecration stain 
Our land, again ! 

But all are not divested of their charter ; 

One refuge still is left for human woes. 
Victim of care ! or persecution's martyr ! 

Who seek'st a sure asylum from thy foes, 
Learn that the holiest, safest, purest, best, 
Is man's own breast I 

There is a solemn sanctuary founded 
By God himself ; not for transgressors meant ; 

But that the man oppressed, the spirit-wounded, 
And all beneath the world's injustice bent, 

Might turn from outward wrong, turmoil, and din, 
To peace within. 

Each bosom is a temple ; when its altar, 

The living heart, is unprofaned and pure, 
Its verge is hallowed ; none need fear or falter 

Who thither fly ; it is an ark secure, 
Winning, above a world o'erwhelmed with wrath, 
Its peaceful path. 

O bower of bliss ! O sanctuary holy ! 

Terrestrial antepast of heavenly joy ! 
Never ! oh, never may misdeed or folly 

My claim to thy beatitudes destroy ! 
Still may I keep this paradise unlost, 
Where'er 1 'm tost. 

Even in the flesh the spirit disembodied, 
Unchecked by time and space, may soar elate, 

In silent awe to commune with the Godhead, 
Or the millenium reign anticipate, 

When earth shall be all sanctity and love, 
Like Heaven above. 

How sweet to turn from anguish, guilt, and madness, 
From scenes where strife and tumult never cease 



354 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

To that elysian world of bosom' d gladness, 
Where all is silence, charity, and peace ; 
And, sheltered from the storm, the soul may rest 
On its own nest. 

When, sensitive as the spleenful Mimosa, 
We shrink from Winter's touch and Nature's gloom ; 

There may we conjure up a Vellombrosa, 
Where groves and bowers in summer beauty bloom, 

And the heart dances in the sunny glade 
Fancy has made. 

But would we dedicate to nobler uses, 

This bosom-sanctuary, let us there 
Hallow our hearts from all the world's abuses ; 

While high and charitable thought and prayers 
May teach us gratitude to God, combined 
With love of kind. 

Reader, this is no lay unfelt and hollow, 
But prompted by the happy, grateful heart 

Of one who, having humbly tried to follow 
The path he counsels, would to thee impart 

The love and holy quiet which have blest 
His own calm breast." 

The same " delicious " mind produces the following : 

" Earth, on whose stage, in pomp arrayed, 
Life's joyous interlude is played, 

Earth ! with thy pageants ever new and bright, 
Thy woods and waters, hills and dales, 
How dead must be the soul that fails 

To see and bless thy beauties infinite ! 

Man, whose high intellect supplies 

A never-failing Paradise 
Of holy and enrapturing pursuits, 

Whose heart 's a fount of fresh delight, 

Pity the cynics who would blight 
Thy godlike gifts, and rank thee with the brutes. 

Oh woman ! who, from realms above, 

Hast brought to earth the heaven of love, 
Terrestrial angel, beautiful as pure I 

No pains, no penalties dispense 

On thy traducers : their offence 
Is its own punishment, most sharp and sure. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 355 

Father and God ! whose love and might 

To every sense are blazoned bright 
On the vast three-leaved Bible,— earth, sea, sky, — 

Pardon the impugners of thy laws, 

Expand their hearts, and give them cause 
To bless the exhaustless grace they now deny. 

Hear me, O hear, while I impart 

The deep conviction of my heart, 
That such a theatre, august and grand, 

Whose author, actors, awful play, 

Are God, mankind, a judgment day, 
Was for some higher aim, some holier purpose plann'd. 

I will not, nay, I cannot, deem 

This fair creation's moral scheme, 
That seems so crude, mysterious, misapplied, 

Meant to conclude as it began, 

Unworthy the material plan 
With whose perfections rare, its failures are allied. 

As in our individual fate, 

Our manhood and maturer date 
Correct the faults and follies of our youth, 

So will the world, I fondly hope, 

With added years, give fuller scope 
To the display and love of wisdom, justice, truth. 

'T is this that makes my feelings glow, 

My bosom thrill, my tears o'erflow 
At any deed magnanimous, sublime ; 

'Tis this that reassures my soul, 

When nations shun the forward goal, 
And retrograde awhile, in ignorance and crime. 

Mine is no hopeless dream of some 

Impassable Millenium, 
When saints and angels shall inhabit earth ; 

But a conviction deep, intense, 

That man was meant by Providence, 
Progressively to reach a higher moral worth. 

On this dear faith's sustaining truth, 

Hath my soul brooded from its youth, 
As heaven's best gift and earth's most cheering dower. 

O ! may I still in life's decline, 

Hold unimpaired this creed benign, 
And mine old age attest its meliorating power I " 



356 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Our present work already exceeds in quantity its prescribed 
limits, yet we feel an irresistible influence soliciting the insertion 
of certain communications from the spirit-world. These are not 
of late origin, having been given through the mediumship of Mrs. 
Sweet, from the years 1852-6, although not published until the 
year 1869, nearly ten years subsequent to her birth to spirit-life. 
Judge Edmonds said of her : — " She always seemed to me to be 

Pure as the snow-flake ere it falls 

And takes the stain of earth, 
"Without a taint of mortal life, 

Except its mortal birth." 

Some of the communications we shall give in full, as taken 
from the work entitled, "The Future Life: as Described and 
Portrayed by Spirits, through Mrs. Elizabeth Sweet." From 
others we shall only select such extracts as we may deem advisa- 
ble. Our first purports to be from Swedenborg : 

" The human soul, when first awakened from the slumber of 
its material nature to a consciousness of its spiritual being, pre- 
sents a strange medley of conflicts and changes, in its transition 
state. Where the material consciousness of the individual has so 
long retained the ascendency, it has become vested with a strong 
authority, as it were, and a mighty struggle oftentimes ensues 
between the two opposites ; and when the spiritual germ of our 
nature first begins to develop itself, it is so mingled and inter- 
woven with our material being, that we are at a loss to distinguish 
the difference between the principles which sway us, and often 
stand trembling almost, (feeling so uncertain, as though we stood 
upon the edge of a precipice,) not knowing into what depths of 
insecurity our plunge may lead. But gradually in some, and 
more rapid in others, the spiritual nature assumes its empire, and 
we then see things as we never saw them before. 

There is a new and strong principle that takes root and grows 
up within the soul, constantly strengthening and sustaining the 
feeble and fluttering efforts which the spirit is making to burst 
from out the bondage in which it has been held for so great a 
length of time. And when the soul becomes able to rise so far 
beyond its accustomed position as to look abroad upon the won- 
ders everywhere held out to its view, it becomes filled with strong 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 357 

and beautiful emotions ; and the vastness and wisdom of the Cre- 
ator's works are so impressed upon that soul, at times, in all their 
magnificence and glory, that it fain would shrink within its own 
insignificance, that it would shrink back again to its former posi- 
tion. For, to the freed soul, its upward flights are grand and 
glorious, in comparison with the narrow and time-trodden road 
in which it before had wandered. No wonder if a fluttering and 
trembling should seize upon it while learning its first lessons of 
joyous freedom. 

The soul that has entered upon this path, has indeed under- 
gone a mighty change, a change for the future which has not to be 
repeated in the future ; for this change is a passing from death 
unto life ; it is the birth of the spirit while yet in its earthly tem- 
ple; and as it expands in strength and wisdom, it has indeed 
passed through the bitterness of death, which is not to be expe- 
rienced over again in the form. 

0, the spirit, after undergoing this first change from dark to 
light, is enabled to look beyond with a bright and peaceful hope 
in the blest exchange which awaits him. He but looks forward 
to the slumber in which he will experience a forgetfulness of the 
ills attendant on the body, and will awaken to behold the glori- 
ous reality of all his former dreamings and imaginings. 

Man's soul, after having become thus quickened, feels a con- 
sciousness within itself of his hold upon eternal life. He feels 
his spirit going out into the vast regions of infinite space, and 
endeavors to grasp an atom of knowledge wherever he may find 
it. He is no longer willing to grovel on earth, and taste of 
earthly pleasures and earthly hopes, and to be led by the 
teachings of those whose inspirations have become dim in the 
awakening glory of this new era. But his soul pants for some- 
thing more, something higher, something better, more heartfelt, 
more tangible than he has yet become acquainted with ; and he 
is now ever yearning, ever soaring upward, for there has been es- 
tablished an affinity between the soul of that individual and the 
principle from which he emanated. The connection between the 
life-giving principle and the germ has become more apparent; 
and now he is ever drawn upward in his aspirations after truth 
and purity ; and as that soul becomes identified with its spirit- 
affinities, the material loses much of its authority to act upon its 
spirit-being. He now regards it as a covering for material use, 



358 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

to be thrown aside when no longer needed to contain his spirit 
when on its earthly mission ; and truth, virtue, and love become a 
daily inspiration of his soul. This spirit becomes so saturated 
and bathed in the light of wisdom, that he indeed feels the im- 
mortal part of his nature has become so quickened and vitalized, 
that he needs but to look within to find an answer to his inner- 
most cravings after the knowledge which places him upon a firm 
and imperishable basis, as regards his eternal and ultimate des- 
tiny. The external elements may be in confusion and dissension, 
and the surface of all other circumstances may become ruffled 
and chaotic in their dark dismay; but the soul that has thus 
been able to take hold upon his high prerogatives and claim his 
inheritance, by building it up and beautifying it while here for 
his future residence, may indeed look away and beyond the scenes 
of earth, and feel that while he has lived upon its surface as an 
obedient servant to his better intuitions, inasmuch as he could 
plainly perceive them, is like the bird on the wing, who, when 
the first note of welcome from his mate salutes his ear, is ever 
ready to soar away and meet with joy his waiting companion; for 
there is a beautiful reunion takes place between the freed spirit 
of man and his affinities, who have long guided his footsteps on 
earth, and whom he now may behold face to face, and with them 
travel onward to behold the eternal mysteries of the glorious un- 
folding of the wisdom of God." 

Communication purporting to emanate from the spirit of Henry 
Clay, July, 1852. 

" Is it indeed possible that the Lord, in his mercy, has permitted 
me, worm as I am, to enjoy this great privilege of standing in 
spirit and addressing mortals below ? 

My sojourn in the land of spirits has been very short, and my 
experience necessarily limited. My actual knowledge of a true 
and well-conducted life has but just begun : true life, not a life 
which is antagonistical to spiritual truths, whose soft whisperings 
at times penetrate the heart of every man, even amid the tur- 
moil and excitement of a worldly career, carried on in an increas- 
ing round of conflicting passions, hopes, and fears, and longings 
for that which may not always be grasped, but a life of an en- 
tirely different nature. Ambition no longer absorbs my soul with 
hei dark-hued wings. Party spirit no more dispels the bright 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 359 

visions of happiness from my view. But here, love and unity 
bring light and joy imperishable. Now I discover that even the 
desire for a nation's welfare was too much interwoven with the 
love of self-aggrandizement. I see also that men of high intellect, 
whose vigorous thought swayed the mass of mind, and whose 
splendor of eloquence misled the senses, now but faintly shine in 
the dim distance. The eloquence of earth is not at all times bor- 
rowed from heaven, and the fiery intellect is not always kindled 
by the light of purity or the intensity of love. 

The vast voice of a nation, as the voice of one man, will yet 
ascend on high to the power which shall enlighten the people 
and unchain them from their moral and social slavery, the slavery 
of human custom, and conventionalities, and approbation which 
often leads men to forget their duty to themselves, their nation, 
and their God. 

And now I am rejoiced that the light from heaven, which is to 
baptize the nations, has broken in upon my soul, and I could bow 
my head to the dust in shame and grief, that the still small voice 
of conscience was so long unheeded by me, and which would have 
led me to behold this pure and beautiful light. I was a states- 
man on earth, but am a child in heaven. There I was thought 
a sage ; here I am a novice ; but even this novitiate is to me more 
deep in knowledge, and yet more fraught with mystery, than ever 
my mortal mind conceived. My highest earth-born thought was 
far too low to reach to heaven. My worldly wisdom availed me 
not, when my new life commenced. 

It is very beautiful to become a little child again ; and now I 
understand the meaning of the words, ' Ye must be born again ; ' 
and in true sincerity and gratefulness I feel that I am born 
again, in a life where the vanities of earth have faded from my 
view, and the bright glories of heaven are opening upon my 
soul. 

soul made pure, be thankful for thy high estate, and adore 
thy God, who hath endowed thine eyes with light, and thy soul 
with the ability to enjoy the pure beauties which crowd upon thy 
new existence ! And yet how I am overwhelmed with the fore- 
shadowing of the glory which is yet in wait for me. But now a 
form of brightness appears, and saith unto me, 'As thy day is, 
bo shall thy strength increase ; and thou shalt grow, and wax 
stronger in the stature of wisdom, and the might of love.' 



360 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I am surrounded by those who have passed from earth, and 
who are, like myself, exploring the wonders of this heavenly land. 
The realities become more and more transcendently sublime as 
we proceed ; and the beauties of knowledge are increasingly un- 
folded. More vast and commanding becomes the wide-spread 
plain of glory, as we travel on in our heavenly path, guided by 
wisdom supreme and love unbounded. 

Follow up this good path, friends. I regret that I did not 
commence sooner." 

Question, by a member of the circle. " Did you begin at all, 
while on earth ? " 

Answer. "Faintly and feebly, as a child begins to walk. 
I possessed not the strength which comes from above." 

Question. " Did you believe in these manifestations ? " 

Answer. " I believed in a great deal more than I admitted, even 
to myself." 

We are not informed through whom the foregoing communica- 
tion came ; but the following, from the same spirit, was re- 
ceived through Mrs. S. a short time afterward. 

" It is with feelings of thankfulness, that I have again found 
an opportunity of speaking through a medium. It seems to be 
the wish which is ever uppermost in my mind, to come back to 
earth, and mingle again in the scenes in which I took so active a 
part, but not with the same desire that I then had, to participate 
in the hopes and fears which sway the minds of those who cannot 
see beyond the present sphere of existence. 

But it is my desire to make myself known, if possible, to those 
with whom I have walked the down-hill path of life. And it is 
my aim, when I shall succeed in so doing, to open their minds to 
the truth of this incalculable and momentous manifestation, to 
them unknown. 

I foresee, in so doing, the light of wisdom to rule and govern a 
nation, that is striving to rise into liberty, as on the wings of an 
eagle ; and how absolutely necessary and all- important is it, that 
the minds of the rulers of the land should be filled with the wis- 
dom which shall enable them to rule with a justice which shall 
diffuse -its influence with the knowledge of truth ; and the truth, 
when it shall reach the minds of the people, with the power which 
only the truth can approach, will open their minds to the enjoy- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 361 

ment of this glorious knowledge, which will lead to the happiness 
of the people, to the nation's lasting good. 

When this young eaglet, whose aspiring wings are spread to all 
nations and climes, shall become stronger in her strength, and 
more powerful in her power; and, thank God! this power shall 
yet be felt in the uttermost parts of the earth ; the cry shall be 
to the people, Strengthen ye my loved ones, with the strength of 
the truth which is strengthening ye. 

0, how lovely the light ! how palely beautiful the beams which 
are darting hither and thither around ; and it falls there, and it 
falls here, and it takes root, and the root takes strength and is be- 
ginning to nourish. But ah ! the young saplings are yet tender ; 
the winds of ridicule and calumny blow roughly over their heads. 
It may break ; it may rudely handle them in their tender youth. 
But oh ! it will not blast them ; the young trees shall lift their 
heads, and become as oaks, which, amid the tempests, stand un- 
moved. 

And I would say to the weak ones, ! be strong in your faith 
and trust in God ; for this glorious work is advancing slowly, but 
surely, and steadily. And as an army whose ranks are feeble at 
first, it shall increase in strength, and beauty, and might, and 
majesty, until it shall overpower the hearts of the people, not 
with the force of power, but with the power of love. 

Already in my short journey I can perceive how great the hap- 
piness and welfare of the nation is to be promoted by a knowledge 
of the truth, when they shall reap the benefit of the communion 
of spirits from the highest to the lowest in the land. 

0, how great, how earnest is the desire of the spirits to make 
their presence known ! And through that influence the hearts 
of men shall grow weak in their desire to commit crime, and to 
wrong their fellow-men. Through that influence the weak and 
oppressed shall be raised from the dust, and placed on the level 
plain of Humanity, which the power of God willed all human 
beings to enjoy, but which the perverted will of man, whose con- 
science has become deaf to the voice of nature's God, has down- 
trodden and oppressed when circumstances have given him au- 
thority over them. 

But the voice of freedom from the thraldom of mind and body 
shall ere long be heard over the land, and minds shall rise strong 
in the knowledge which God has given them, and teach to other 



362 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

minds how dark the gloom which sectarianism, and superstition, 
and unbelief, and skepticism, have cast around them. And I say 
their fetters shall be broken as the light shall speed onward. 

As I contemplate this work, which is gradually becoming un- 
folded, I thank God in my inmost heart that I have been per- 
mitted to soar above this land of shadows and darkness and 
dimness, and whose honors and glories flee away as shadows from 
our grasp, and leave us toiling for we know not what. 

I now stand on the mount of Hope, whose strength upholdeth 
me, and whose light becomes stronger and brighter, nor vanisheth 
as the objects are nearer. But more lovely becomes this lovely 
light the nearer I approach it, through the goodness of God and 
the aid of spirits made perfect, who dwell in the presence of his 
smile, and who do their Father's will when life is unceasing, joy 
is never-ending, and eternity is eternal." 

THE PREACHER. 

"' For the wicked shall be cast into hell, and all the nations that 
forget God. This is a solemn thought, my hearers, and one on 
which we should prayerfully and candidly exercise our minds. 
Yea, verily. It is a solemn thought. The wicked shall be cast 
into hell, where the worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. 
0, my friends, flee from the wrath to come. Put away your 
sins, lest the Son of Man come in the night time ; and 0, ye 
sinners ! beware how ye tempt an angry God ! ' 

This was the doctrine I preached on earth, this the way in 
which I filled the poor human heart with fear and trembling, 
with shrinking from a kind and beneficent God, whose only man- 
ifestation is smiling on his creatures, by calling him angry ! by 
crying up hell-fire, the horrors of those who disobey, and distort- 
ing everything to suit my own peculiar views. I thought I was 
doing right and God a service by upholding these gloomy dog- 
mas, which I gave forth with such a zeal, with such bitter denun- 
ciations against the erring mortals who should have been en- 
couraged and dealt kindly with, and not horrified and frightened 
with the contemplation of death. 

I thus departed from earth, feeling happy that I had done my 
duty and borne my cross, and might enter into the joys of my 
Father's house. I entered the spirit- world, but was not met by 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 363 

the rejoicing and bright angels I expected; by some friends, to 
be sure, but their countenances were sad and gloomy ; there was 
evidently something on their minds. Instead of rejoicing and 
songs of praise, it was rather a gloomy and mournful greeting on 
my first entrance, and a sadness came over my soul. I asked, 
' How is this? "Why should heaven seem so gloomy a place ? ' I 
said, ' Friends, can you tell me the reason ? There is no rejoic- 
ing, no gladness in your looks. You have some inward sorrow. 
Pray, convey me to Him whose cause I have served. Let me see 
the Saviour who died on the cross to redeem sinners. Give me 
something to repay me for all my labor.' 

One venerable-looking brother, whom I had known on earth, 
approached me solemnly, and, taking my hand, said, ' Our life- 
teachings have been wrong. They have caused more mourning 
and shrinking from the approach of death than happiness, driv- 
ing hundreds away by their asperity, who would have been glad 
to gaze beyond the veil of eternity.' I asked, ' Can it be possible 
that my whole life has been spent wrongly, that I lived an in- 
harmonious life, that instead of doing God service, I have done 
evil toward my fellow-men ? ' 

My soul was so troubled and cast down, that, after pausing 
awhile, I said to that brother, * What shall I do to be saved ? ' He 
said, ' When you shall see your errors, and be willing to go down 
and redeem the wrong you have done in the hearts which are 
there ; then, and not till then, will you begin your path of ascen- 
sion, and by your labor blot out your sins, by assisting others to 
blot out theirs.' 

And, my friends, as soon as I was made conscious of my error, 
I began my work. I gave up my narrow conceptions of the Deity. 
Grovelling worm that I was, how little did I know of the majesty 
of God ! I began earnestly and trustfully to cast away the chains 
that bound my soul. I began my labors. And, 0, yes ; it was 
a labor, indeed ; sufficient to wash away my many sins, when I 
shall have washed away the errors from those minds whose igno- 
rance was made darker by my errors, and who might now have 
been further advanced but for my teachings. 

I am now ascending. I begin to see the beauties of the spirit- 
world, and the tears fill my eyes when I think what I might have 
been. 

Friends ! thank your God that you are free, and that you are 



364 THE UNSEALED BOOK 

on the road ahead, far in advance of many of the dwellers in the 
spirit-land" 

TH5> CONVICT. 

This evening, Mrs. Hemans came and influenced Mrs. Sweet, 
and said to us : — 

" Look with me, and see that pale, trembling spirit, who has but 
lately left his body. That body was clothed in a convict's garb, 
and its last home on earth was the cell of a prison ; he committed 
crimes against the laws of his country, and was condemned to 
suffer a punishment of solitude and hard labor, uncheered by any 
kind voice : no friendly eye to look upon him in his hours of 
loneliness and heart-breaking anguish. 

Poor spirit ! bitterly has he repented, while in the form, of all 
his errors and misdeeds. On his knees, and in the humility of his 
soul, has he sought of his Maker, to pardon the faults of his 
youthful days. His childhood was joyous and pleasant ; his heart 
was light and glad as any among us, but his trusting spirit was 
taken possession of, and led by stronger wills than bis own ; and 
he was made to commit those errors, which hastened his spirit 
from out the body." The convict thus speaks for himself : 

" If you want me to tell my sufferings, I am sure I can do so, 
for God knows I remember them so well, that they will never be 
erased from my memory. They said I committed a grave crime, 
and perhaps I did; I knew it to be a crime, although I com- 
mitted it in a moment of thoughtlessness and folly, more for 
the love of mischief, than the sin of it. I had no thought of 
what the consequences would be. My older companions urged 
me on, and called me cowardly, because I at first shrunk from 
applying the match, which destroyed the dwelling of a worthy 
family, and burned one of their children. How I shudder while 
I think that I was the cause of that awful death ! They took me 
to prison. They found me guilty. I knew I was guilty : I did not 
deny it ; and bitter scalding tears coursed down my cheeks, when 
I thought of the little innocent whose death I had caused. I 
cared not for myself or what became of me. They told me I must 
go to prison, for how many years I cannot tell, but it was very, 
very many, and my weeping friends bade me farewell, those who 
were not ashamed to be seen speaking to me, and others looked 
at me in pity, and shook their heads. My brain-was in a whirl; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 365 

I felt as though I was going to be transported to some distant 
country, where I would never see home or friends again. But 
that dreadful load of guilt lay heavily at my heart. That little 
child ! She had been a playmate of mine, and one of my com- 
panions had made me the instrument of consummating the ven- 
geance which he was afraid to take, for some petty spite which 
he had against the father. 

When they shut me up in the cold, gloomy, lonely cell, I threw 
myself down and prayed that I might never remember my former 
life. I but wished that a sea of forgetfulness would roll over me 
and the past, because nothing but that could reconcile me. But 
this was not to be. 1 had to think ; Oh ! I had to think. I had 
to remember everything distinctly that passed in that dreadful 
excitement. And then I felt wronged. Bitter and passionate 
feelings stirred within me ' against those who had instigated me 
to commit such an awful crime. I felt I was guilty, and yet only 
guilty through another's guilt, who had thought and meant worse 
than I. How useless were all these pleadings in my own behalf . 
There was nothing before me but a gloomy prospect for many 
years* to come. Oh ! the horrors of that hour when I first realized 
my situation. I, in a felon's cell, dressed in a convict's garb, and 
compelled to labor with a chain attached to my person. I deter- 
mined to kill myself. I could not live, the thought was so horrid. 
Life was but just opening before me in bright and gorgeous col- 
ors, and now a dark veil had fallen between me and the light of 
the world, and I should have to spend the best years of my man- 
hood in solitary confinement, working harder than a slave. 
Worse, ten thousand times worse than a slave's life was my con- 
dition. When the strong agony had passed over my soul I be- 
came hardened. I cared not what passed. I took no note of the 
day or night. I worked and lived a nearly mechanical life. I felt 
dead to everything around me. There were no more tears left to 
shed, there was nothing to look for, to hope for ; all was dreary, 
all was blank. Thus I lived for a long time. Nor blows nor 
threats could arouse me. Nothing could affect me, so strong and 
hard had my nature become, for I had determined that outward 
circumstances should not bend or break my spirit. It was a stern 
and unrelenting desire not to feel the chains which were galling 
me. 

But how little man knows of his own spirit ! How incapable 



366 THE UNSEALED BOOK. . 

he is of knowing what he may be able to bear, and how long he 
will prove impregnable to those feelings which animate the 
breasts of all the human family ! My resolutions gradually grew 
weaker, and my will less strong. I began to yearn for some pity- 
ing heart to turn to. There was none to listen to my prayer, 
none to wipe away my tears, and my heart melted down until it 
became as weak as a little child's. Oh ! how I wished to see the 
face of a friend. What sickness of heart came over me, and no 
kindly hand was there to be laid on my head, but only the cold, 
stony wall to support it. It was in vain for me to ask or pray 
for my earthly friends, for I could not see their faces. And then 
I strove to pray to God ; then I bent low in humility and sorrow, 
and confessed my sins, and prayed him to forgive me. I had 
felt so guilty before that I dared not pray ; but now there was 
something within me which seemed to tell me there was hope 
beyond the grave. When I had slumbered before, my dreams 
had been horrible; phantoms coming to upbraid me for my 
crimes, and I awakened, often grateful that all the dreadful 
scenes I had passed through were nothing but dreams. And now 
those dreadful shapes and phantoms had left me, and sweeter 
sleep had succeeded. As my heart had become softened within 
me, it seemed as though a bright and pleasant influence gradu- 
ally fell upon me. My dreams became pleasant, and the little 
one whose death I was the means of, appeared to me in shining 
garments, and told me that her Father in heaven forgave me, 
and that I should come to her home and be with her. Ah ! that 
bright spirit made the poor prisoner's cell gleam and shine with 
heavenly light, for I felt that God had answered my prayer, that 
there was mercy even for me ; and when I slumbered it was with 
a prayer on my tongue of thankfulness to my Father in heaven 
for his forgiveness, which had brought peace and comfort to me 
in my lonely cell. That place which had appeared to me a living 
tomb,, now became bright and pleasant in its gloom, and the 
words which were written in the Book of Life gave me hope and 
joy. And I daily prayed, and daily my body grew weaker ; but 
my soul grew stronger, and I longed to leave my body behind. 
My thinking had brought me much benefit, for now my thoughts 
were pleasant and glad, for now I felt happy and joyful. There 
was a peaceful, happy feeling, there was a love which cast out 
fear, and I felt as if there were loving and protecting arms about 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 367 

me, even me. They told me I was dying, and ! how I re- 
joiced. I knew I was dying ; I wanted to die, to embrace that 
little spirit who had told me of my Father's forgiveness. And 
when I passed from death nnto life, there was none so near to take 
me by the hand as that happy little spirit. She told me that I 
should go with her, for I had repented of that I was punished 
for, and my punishment had been greater than my crime. She 
said there was no injustice there, that I should be able soon to 
outlive all recollection of my past misery, in the life I was about 
to lead, and I should see many who had been imprisoned, as I 
was, for crimes which they had not been really guilty of. But 
God, who sees the heart, would punish all according to their 
works, and not for those things which they have not committed ; 
but the real culprit will here also meet with his due reward. 

I find no prisons here, no stripes, no starvation, but kind spir- 
its who pity me for having been led astray, and who will assist me 
to retrieve that which was done, and prepare me to come back to 
the poor, weary, heart-broken prisoners, and, when the time comes, 
to speak to them of the better life, which is beyond the gloomy 
walls of a prison. Peace and hope will light up their sad and 
desponding hearts, for we are coming in a mighty strength and 
power to raise them from their stupor." — Thomas Ellis. 



A PICTTTKE OF THE FUTUKE. 

"At a recent meeting of the Circle of Hope, the following com- 
munication was received from a spirit purporting to be that of 
Joan of Arc. Some of the circle not being familiar with her 
history, it was mentioned that she had,, by the sacrifice of herself, 
redeemed her country — France. 

She said, " Yes ; and France has to be redeemed again. I am 
not the first of the martyrs who lost their lives in the cause of 
truth and freedom ; nor shall I be the last, even at this late day 
of the world's enlightenment. 

But, friends, it is not to bring this gloomy picture before your 
eyes that I have come to-night. 0, no ! It is with a far dif- 
ferent object. The light and glory which have been cast around 
me in my spirit-home, give me a holy and beautiful theme to 
dwell upon. Not for me alone to dwell upon, nor for spirits 



368 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

alone, nor for angels alone to dwell upon, but for mortals too. 
Yes, for mortals ! 

In the darkness and superstition of the past, which are passing 
away with all their gloomy forms and fancy-fraught terrors, 
comes the light of revealed love and wisdom, as the harbinger of 
peace, joy, hope, and redemption to be wrought on ,earth. Mar- 
tyrs who have suffered for the glorious cause of truth, lift up 
your heads with joy ineffable ! Gaze down on earth again, and 
rejoice to see the fruits of your heaven-directed labors! Behold 
now the seeds which have smouldered for a season ! Lo, they 
are springing forth and gaining might. The dark past is passing 
away; and the bright future, how it gleams before me! The 
strength which cometh with the white-winged messenger is being 
felt. Its power is spreading ; its love is directing ; its might is 
finding the mighty as well as the lowly of earth. ! the deep 
springs which have opened in many hearts, from king to peasant, 
are becoming breathed upon by the spirit of progression and life- 
beaming light! Who shall withstand the power of that light 
which comes as a stream in whose placid waters they may bathe ? 

And lo ! Truth cometh. Lo! it groweth. The meek and 
the lowly of earth receive with heartfelt joy, as the dove bear- 
ing the olive branch of peace, the green, the beautiful sym- 
bol of hope for their souls — the resting place for all : for each 
soul is being unfolded, and all may feel that the rock of ages 
is more firm for them, than the throne which the mighty and 
high-souled monarchs of earth have aspired to in their uplifted 
majesty. And the light will level the world, as with the hand 
of the angel of death, when he cometh and lays all low alike. 
I say the light shall level the people of the world ; the monarch 
will be but the man, and the man will be a man more than ever 
before : and woman shall become a strong and mighty instru- 
ment in the glorious work." 

[Some remark was here made by one of the circle, implying 
that in her efforts for her country, she must have been inspired. 
And the spirit said:] "It was inspiration. It was a host of 
spirits which loved my country that inspired me, and I did not 
repel them. My soul saw the heaven prepared for the lover of 
truth and justice, and has felt the heaven which acting — tak- 
ing our lives in our hands, and going forth to do our Father's 
work, has raised me to also ; which has filled my soul with holy 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 369 

joy, and has shown me the hosts which aided me while carrying 
out the design which advanced my country one step in her up- 
ward destiny. 

The earthly tabernacles erected for the worship of the Most 
High shall be deserted, or looked upon as places of the terror and 
darkness which have for centuries ruled the mind of humanity, 
through the force of dry and unsatisfactory laws, given forth 
as the mandates of the glorious Being whose only law is love ? 
whose only mandate is peace. And each heart shall erect within 
itself a tabernacle, an altar, whose incenset shall reach the pure 
throne of light, and return with an odor more sweet than the 
breath of flowers in their first dawn of beauty. When the struc- 
tures erected by the hands of man are less sought, and the in- 
ward temple of the soul shall rise up and shine forth in the 
splendor of its natural beauty,. then dark and gloomy indeed will 
seem the past, and glorious will all feel the present, unfolding to 
every heart new fountains of light and life everlasting. 

! the time is approaching when the men of earth shall feel 
how closely their interests, their immortal interests, all inter- 
woven with the chain which reaches between the earth and skies. 
And the links of that chain shall be so commingled as to draw 
down the spirits of the great and good, the great in wisdom, and 
the mighty in truth, who have long since passed away, ripened in 
knowledge, purified in love, elevated in their progression in the 
eternal spheres of light, and now descending to fulfil their mis- 
sion on earth. 

Think not the germ of immortal flowers has ceased to act upon 
their native ground — their home of clay. That love of home, 
of earth, of country, which attracts it, shall and will draw, and 
is drawing back those purely unfolded spirits, who are now com- 
ing with a power whose resistless course shall be lighted with the 
beautiful images of the present dawn, and will show the gloom 
and darkness of the past in all its huge and ungainly deformity- 
Will not the mind revolt from that which is so dark and repel- 
ling ? and shall not men turn away from it, and open wide their 
hearts to enjoy the beautiful future spread out before them ? — 
not as a dream, but as a glorious angel of life and love, who shall, 
enter every heart, and gladden every homestead, and shall so act, 
bo cast its golden fetters around, as to bring the best family of: 
mankind within its gladsome embrace. 



370 THE UNSEALED BOOK 

Is the picture too pale ? Does it seem exaggerated, to your view? 
"Not so does it appear to spirits ; but the colors are golden, the 
tints are azure. Ah ! how they are blending and shooting forth 
in all directions in the bright firmament of joy, which speaks in 
more than mortal volumes of the infinite love and majesty of 
the Most High God." 



EXTRACTS FROM COMMUNICATIONS GIVEN BY DANIEL WEBSTER. 

" I find I am what I believe you call an undeveloped individual 
in my new stage of existence. But, thank God, I see ample fields 
opening for my research, which I might have entered long ago, 
had I been so minded. 

It was a great, though not a grand mistake of mine not to seek 
the truth before, regarding this matter. 

In my day I sought out many truths, and many new truths to 
many minds ; but now I see that the most important truth was 
altogether overlooked. My soul felt with an overwhelming force 
the mighty sense, the infinite power of the Almighty in all his 
works. The grand and glorious hand of Nature imparted her 
divine revelation ; but, friends, I never sought the voice which 
might touch my heart and receive an answer in the flesh. 

It is this I mourn for now. How clearly do I now perceive my 
short-comings ! But, thank God, my life has not been spent en- 
tirely in vain for my country or mankind. I speak not thus with 
a feeling of triumph, or boastingly, but with a feeling of regret 
that I had not more wisely directed my talents, and had not ena- 
bled myself to let the glorious gifts of God in me shine forth in 
a purer, broader, and better light. 

As I look back on my past career, I see much to regret, and 
much to rejoice for. I see at the present period in my country's 
history, peace and plenty, and the people as happy as they possi- 
bly could be, under the present state of affairs. But since I have 
thrown off my mortal body, my spirit has taken a bird's-eye view 
of the universe. God ! how dark it seems even here ! [There 
were evident signs of deep emotion.] 

It appears as though the minds which directed the people, 
were undirected themselves in so many respects, where, had they 
done differently, a different state of things would now exist. But 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 371 

I have no right to complain; I did not see it while here, to so 
great an extent as I now see it. 

Oh I see how very great the darkness of the leaders has been, 
in respect to the wants of the people, and my own leanness in 
this respect, stands before me as a withered tree. 

You wish to know my object in coming here to-night. It is 
easily told. You all know my former character; you cannot pos- 
sibly believe I can so soon become spiritual minded. Clouds of 
materialism which darkened the finer elements of my mind, still 
cast their shadows around me; but I wish you to understand, 
that I realize what I might have been, what I am, and what I am 
to be. My life on earth was misspent, and my mission is, to 
make the atonement for it. To be the Daniel Webster on earth, 
and the Daniel Webster in heaven. 

It will be my earnest wish to benefit my fellow-beings on earth. 
My sympathy is with them ; I participate in their hopes and 
fears, and you will not therefore be surprised at my desire again 
to return to earth. I will atone for all the wrongs I may have 
committed, consciously or unconsciously, as far as shall lie within 
myself. 

That seems to be the first duty which is required of me in my 
new home ; to see myself in true colors, that the false colors may 
be stripped from around my existence, and the true shine forth 
with greater and native brilliancy. [There was something in the 
manner in which this was delivered, that struck those of us who 
had heard him speak, as remarkably characteristic of him ; and 
we gave utterance to the thought. He said : How happy I am. 
You do more than I would have done. You all believe it.] 

In my short existence I find that sin must forgive itself, by ex- 
piating itself in the mind. How naturally the former life, 
former faults, and former follies, all rise up before me and re- 
proach me, and almost take the form of an avenging angel. If 
there is a hell, it is when such thoughts reign supreme; and if 
there is a heaven, it is the recollection of having performed the 
duty required of us by the Great First Cause, who gave us our 
talents to be used for the benefit of our fellow-men, and made us 
the machines to direct the springs placed within our bodies. 

That is to be my greatness again. My mission will consist in 
reaching men in many different ways; not in one, or two, or 



372 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

twenty ways, will I perform the work which I am beginning to 
learn merely the alphabet of. 

Thank Heaven, no qualms of conscience, prejudice, or principle, 
shall act there as a barrier to obstruct the full flow of my soul's 
aspirations after goodness and wisdom, to surround me with the 
ennobling and beautifying principles which have lain deeply im- 
bedded within my soul. 

In glancing over my past existence, I perceive many feelings 
which lay buried within my being were concealed from my view 
by the outward causes which were acting upon, and moulded my 
mind, and left their impress graven upon my public career in 
letters which time will not efface. 

Had I a thousand tongues to tell the multitude of wonders, 
they should all be of the great and reforming in all its aspects, 
the good of my country, the good of mankind at large, through 
the exceedingly beautiful and natural laws which are bringing 
the world of reality and that which has been hitherto one of 
shadows together. 

My words fail to describe my feelings, when I attempt to por- 
tray the delight which I feel thrill through my soul, with a warm 
glow of happiness, in contemplating the high destiny of the 
human race. I do not speak of that which is to come in centu- 
ries. I do not wish to carry my ideas out of your reach ; but 
I mean within a few short years which I can speak of, as know- 
ing the meaning of what I say, having so lately been guided by the 
same measure of time myself. 

I feel that the high and beautiful wisdom of the Almighty 
God is indeed manifesting itself in a manner miraculous to spirits 
and astounding to mortals. And were I willing at this period of 
time to become a visionary rather than the practical man which 
I ever delighted to be, I could paint such pictures as would open 
the bowers of Eden, green and beautiful, to your view, fanned by 
the wings of angels, soothed by the breath of love and hope — 
bright hope, harmonized by the all-pervading power of wisdom, 
which not only has worked, but is continually working, wonders 
in the flesh and in the spirit. It would be a picture of peace and 
happiness, brought into operation by the co-operation of men and 
spirits, which, through their combined efforts, will yet concen- 
trate the forces of their powers, and their strength shall be felt 
through every nerve and fibre of the human mind. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 373 

To me, who can now view these things independent of mortal 
eyes, the prospect is indeed cheering. Pray Heaven that the eye 
of your understanding may be opened to realize here what I never 
appreciated in its stupendous might and majesty until I arrived 
there. I am grateful and humiliated to find how true is the 
truth of this returning to earth, and how foolish is the blindness 
which makes men turn away their eyes and shut their hearts to 
the knowledge which speaks to the heart in a trumpet tone, or 
reaches them through the still small voice of conscience. 

My experience has been but of short duration, yet long enough 
to see and to feel how much of the true knowledge which might 
govern and direct the human mind, for its temporal as well as 
spiritual welfare, I was utterly ignorant of. I now see how ut- 
terly incapable men are, with their present knowledge and past 
experience, of advancing the welfare of the human race in the 
progression eternal which might be, if better acquainted with the 
human and divine laws, apparent around you. 

The laws which men make are so different from nature's laws ! 
I have been looking into the narrow platform of thoughts and 
fears which men are constantly erecting and constantly over- 
throwing, for the simple reason that the platform is not wide 
enough, and thus one scale outweighs the other. 

As I look abroad over the earth, over my own loved country, I 
see so many small circles, so many small platforms, that they 
need a larger one to revolve around. 

I am astonished as I look around to see how very contracted 
my ideas were, yet I fondly imagined I took a flight like the 
eagle in her soarings to view the extended map of mind. 

Friends, will you doubt me when I tell you I see a great and 
gradual change which will soon cover the face of the earth ? I 
see the fires blazing up and breaking forth in different directions, 
and I see many and mighty spirits lighting these tires and feeding 
them ; many great and mighty men who have passed away from 
the earth, coming in strength to help the work of the redemption 
of man. 

I feel I have a great part to take in this mighty revolution. It 
has begun, and is spreading and overwhelming, as the billows roll 
over the great face of the waters when lashed to fury by some 
unseen power. 

0, that I had begun my seeking sooner ! that I had wisely 



374 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

improved the talent given me, and let it shine forth ! for then it 
would have lighted my path upward to the mansions above. 

Mighty thoughts rush through my brain as I look abroad — 
too great for utterance now. I see that this work is to be a prac- 
tical one. It is not to be performed by the writers or philoso- 
phers, the wise men or the poets of the day [alone ?], but all, from 
the greatest to the lowest, are to assist and be instruments of util- 
ity, not as servants, but as heirs, as brothers, who will alike enjoy 
the fruits of their labor. The young, the old, the middle-aged, — 
all are to assist. 

In looking back upon many of my friends who were familiar 
with me here, I see that before six months, or a year at furthest, 
shall elapse, many of them will have embraced and will proclaim 
this great truth, and I see some of them are to join me and assist 
me in more ways than one. I see many among my friends whose 
minds are awakened to the subject, but whose fears deter them 
from investigating, and I see many of the spirit-friends who are 
keeping the feelings alive. 

You speak of your statesmen's having left you, of your having 
none to till their places. Greater than they will fill their places. 
Mightier than they shall speak to the nation, in language bring- 
ing flowers of truth for man to live by and to die by. To die: 
the word will be banished from earth. It is but an exchange, 
a putting off the worn-out frame, and entering the new and 
beautiful spirit-covering which is prepared for us as we emerge 
from the world — not of shadows, but of bright realities. 

My ideas are imperfectly given, owing to the difficulties of 
communicating, and my want of knowledge of its laws. I have 
been anxious to speak here before, but have not always been able 
to impress my name. But I am improving, and hope soon to bo 
able to impart some things of utility, something practically to 
benefit those who take an interest in this good work. How I 
regret I did not begin sooner ! My feelings overcome me when I 
look on what I might have been. My language may not have 
appeared like that of Daniel Webster ; but I was anxious to be- 
gin, though I began as a child, for I know you will make good 
use of it, and it will be of much use to my surviving friends." 

Experiences and counsel given by Margaret Fuller (Countess 
Ossoli), December, 1852. "My sojourn in your sphere seems now 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 375 

as an indistinct dream, in comparison with the real life which I now 
enjoy. And I regard the raging of the elements, which freed my 
dearest kindred and myself from our earthly bodies, as the means 
of opening to us the portals of immortality. And we beheld that 
we were born again, born out of the flesh into the spirit. How 
surprised and overjoyed was I, when I saw my new condition ! 
The change was so sudden, so glorious, from mortality to immor- 
tality, that at first I was unable to comprehend it. From the dark 
waves of the ocean, cold, and overcome with fatigue and terror, I 
emerged into a sphere of beauty and loveliness. How differently 
every thing appeared! What an air of calmness and repose sur- 
rounded me ! How transparent and pure seemed the sky of liv- 
ing blue ! And how delightfully I inhaled the pure, life-giving 
atmosphere! A dimming mist seemed to have fallen from my 
eyes, so calm and so beautiful in their perfection were all things 
which met my view. And then kind and loving friends ap- 
proached me, with gentle words and sweet affection; and, 0, I 
said within my soul, surely heaven is more the reality of lovli- 
ness than it ever was conceived to be on earth by the most loving 
hearts. Already are my highest earthly impressions of beauty 
and happines more than realized. It is owing to the influence 
of angels that men sometimes give forth thoughts which seem to 
shine with the light of heaven, and to breathe of the harmony in 
the spheres of immortality, and which, from their purity, men say 
are the words of inspiration. And truly it is inspiration from 
the world of light. It comes to earth borne by loving spirits. 
The winds of adversity which passed over their souls while on 
earth, but purified and chastened them, and rendered them more 
sensitive to the enjoyment of never-ending happiness. And hav- 
ing advanced into a knowledge of the harmonious laws which 
govern their abodes, they forget not their friends on earth ; but 
with strengthened affection and exalted wisdom, they respond to 
the attraction of love which connects the two spheres, and aspir- 
ing men receive the influx of pure spirituality. Could the chil- 
dren of earth but look beyond the range of mortal vision, they 
would see these angel-friends surrounding them, sympathizing 
with them in woe, and rejoicing in their happiness, and dispensing 
blessings of kindness and love. 

But, shall I speak to you of that which is gloomy and sad ? 
0, yes ! I feel it to be my duty. Do you see those people of the 



376 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

world, who are led by no higher law than that of selfishness; 
who have no purer desires than those which are engendered by 
their own dark passions and inconsistent lives; who soar not 
above their own sensuous thoughts; but who are ever seeking 
happiness, in that which brings nought but misery? See how 
this degrading condition is crushing them; how it increases the 
hardships of the poverty-stricken, causing them to expend their 
whole energies in incessant toil for food; how the rich, the well- 
fed son of mammon, of luxury, and ease, from his sensual prompt- 
ings, sullies the purity of helpless innocence, and heaps misery 
upon the dependent ; when, if his mind had been rightly directed, 
he would have spent his gold in filling the mouths of the hungry, 
and lifting the daughters of degradation from their woe-stricken 
state. And behold the little human waifs and strays of society, 
who wander unnoticed through your thoroughfares. Tiny but 
immortal souls, do they not need earthly guardians to guide 
them in the ways of virtue, and turn their young hearts from the 
allurements of sin ? The fathers which nature gave them have 
proved unworthy of their trust, and need, God help them, teach- 
ers themselves. 

0, when I gaze abroad, — if it were only upon your great city 
— how much vanity and injustice do I behold! I see your mag- 
nificent buildings richly adorned with all that wealth and luxury 
can bestow, dedicated as temples of worship — of worship! — 
of forms of worship ! As though the incense of your hearts would 
ascend sweeter through the arched dome, or the service be more 
acceptable, because performed in a costly edifice ! God looketh 
not to the works of thy hand, man ! for worship. He asks 
thee not to build temples of beauty, which please the eye ; but he 
asks of thee a sincere heart, for prayers sent forth from the inner 
sanctuary of the soul. And let thine offerings of gold, and silver, 
and precious stones, be made to God, by dispensing them to thy 
needy brethren. And the anthems of -joy which these shall cause 
to ascend from their grateful hearts, will be more sweet to him 
than the softest music which proceeds from a thousand instru- 
ments of human skill. 

How sadly my spirit looks back upon the place it once inhabi- 
ted, to see so much that is wrong when so little would make it 
one glorious right. Would that men would join their hands to- 
gether, and with united hearts say, Let us assist our brother from 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 377 

the light that we have received; let us lighten his overburdened 
soul of its care and sorrow, by relieving his physical wants, and 
enlightening his mind ; and thus raise him from a level with the 
brute, to the plane where something more is required than mere 
animal food, or sensual gratification in any form. Let us help 
him to repel those dark spirits, which his low and undeveloped 
nature attracts to be his companions. Let us show him that 
much that is dark and repulsive in himself, is rendered still more 
so by the influences which are in affinity with him. Nay, start 
not! it is true: for as like attracts like, and darkness loves dark- 
ness the best, so, in like manner, ignorant, unhappy spirits, linger 
around the haunts of vice and wretchedness, and often assist men 
in their dark deeds of sin; and these influences men call the 
Devil. They attribute all to one individual fiend, who is made 
omnipotent ; forgetting that when man gives way to all that is 
degrading and debasing in his nature, obeying only his animal 
instincts, and shutting out the pure and good, he can be called 
by no other name than evil. But when the lowest among you 
shall have his higher faculties developed, and his intellectual 
powers expanded by elevated knowledge, he will shine in all the 
beauty of manhood; and will not go down to the grave in his sin 
and degradation, to give the world occasion to say, He is a sinner 
and eternally lost. . None need consider that he must enter the 
spirit-world to suffer the torments of hell, or to taste the joys of 
heaven. The knowledge of man's own debasement will bring 
punishment, even in the flesh; and the consciousness of progress 
in truth and goodness, and the participations of their blessings, 
is the foretaste of heaven on earth. There is no further hell 
for him who is engaged in well-doing ; but his pathway leads 
gradually and beautifully upward, into the brightness of the 
Heavenly Father's smile, which illuminates the countenances of 
his progressing children, and reveals their way into the higher 
spheres. 

Softly and sweetly now are many good spirits breathing heav- 
enly words into mortal hearts. Voices that have long since 
passed from earth are returning on a mission of love. Do not 
repel their gentle advances, for they come to benefit your race. 
They come as brothers and sisters ; and though they have often 
been denied a reception, the time is at hand when their voices 
must be heard throughout the length and breadth of the land 



378 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

when they will speak in trumpet-tones of the errors and forms 
which ye have so deeply cherished. And all that is truthful and 
beautiful shall shine forth in undimmed purity, and that which 
is obscure shall be made plain. And all shall ultimately expe- 
rience the benefits and joys of communion with the heavenly 
spheres. It shall be food alike for all men ; for none will reject 
it, because of its healthful and life-giving influences. And as I 
look to earth again, from my spirit-home, I truly rejoice to see 
the good work progressing; and am happy to know that as a 
spirit who has inhabited the earthly sphere, I can come back and 
contribute my mite toward the great work of human redemp- 
tion." — Margaret Fuller. 



THE MAN OF EASE AND FASHION. 

This evening the circle met, and then, through Mrs. Sweet, it 
was said : — 

" This is a jolly sort of a world, anyway, but I 'm tired to death. 
I don't know what to do with myself. I 've travelled all over 
the world, searched out every object of interest, gone into every 
nook and corner, and now I have returned home. It is a dull 
and tedious world to live in. I hate reading, poring over your 
dry, musty books ; trashy novels are worse yet. I 'm tired of 
smoking. My constitution is worn out, and I can't stand strong 
drink. There is nothing here fit to eat ; confound 'em ! Why 
do n't they have decent cooks here ? Nothing tastes good. Well, 
it is a weary world. I wonder what a man was made for ! I 've 
plenty of time and money, and my friends say, ' Why do n't you 
enjoy yourself ? ' 

Those devilish horses like to have broke my neck the other day. 
Well, I 'm becoming more and more disgusted with the world 
every day. Then what '11 become of a fellow when he dies ? 
Never mind, I ain't a going to die yet. 

They say I ought to take a wife ; that would be only a slight 
change. But women are such insipid toys — mere trifling little 
dolls ; they must be complimented and praised forever, or they are 
pouting and looking so dismal. I sha' n't get married. I think 
more of my horses and dogs than of a wife, a damned sight. 

Where shall I travel to ? I 've been to Paris, and London, and 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 379 

all the big cities, and danced and waltzed and done everything a 
fashionable young man should do, and a little more. 

I just happen to think that while I was in Italy, walking along, 
one day, quite discontented, in a secluded street, I happened to 
meet a grave-looking personage, and I thought I'd speak to him, 
to while away the time ; it was so confounded dull. We got to talk- 
ing earnestly. He questioned me a good deal. I told him I felt life 
a stale sort of matter, and I 'd about as lief step out; enjoyment 
had lost its meaning with me. Well, he asked me if I had ever 
done any good with my money, anything that would lead to a 
good end ? I said I thought I had, for I had spent a good deal 
in my day. He asked me what I was living for, and upon my 
soul I couldn't tell hkn. That set me to thinking mighty 
strong. He asked me if I had any ideas of a state after death. 
Such questions always made me uncomfortable. Father's ser- 
vants were never permitted to talk to his children of such things 
as death, or the soul after death. That subject was never intro- 
duced into our family. Anything gloomy or unpleasant was 
strictly forbidden, as depriving us of part of the enjoyment of 
our lives as children. So if any of our friends or the servants 
were taken sick and died, it was only whispered in the family, 
and none allowed to speak of it openly. And when I went to 
church in the family carriage, onr minister preached us pleasant 
stories, glowing descriptions of heaven. He sometimes spoke of 
the wicked and their punishment ; but we knew nothing about 
such things, and did n't consider we had anything to do with that 
part of the discourse. Then, sometimes, the minister rode home 
and dined with us. He would make a beautiful prayer ; and, on 
parting he would pat us on the head and tell us to obey our 
father and mother who were such good Christians, and one of these 
days, when we became men and women, we should follow their 
example and be a bright and shining light to all around us. So, 
after a while, our parents died. I felt bad — very sorry ; I could n't 
bear to look at 'em, and I did n't ; nor think of 'em. We 'd 
never been allowed to think of the dead, and so we forgot 'em 
soon as possible. 

Well, when I left college I started with a large fortune, plenty 
of time, youth, and health, but not much of an education, for our 
teachers overlooked my faults, for I had wealthy parents, and 
they did n't like to be too severe. 



380 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I 've been wandering ever since from place to place in search of 
enjoyment. At first I did enjoy every thing vastly ; but really I 
do n't know why, but I do n't enjoy anything now ; I 'm just tired 
of life, and that 's all. Gambling was once a great source of en- 
joyment, a fierce sort of pleasure ; I used to feel almost frenzied 
sometimes while engaged in it, but it got to be an old thing, like 
every thing else. 

I really think I 'm getting out of health ; I 'm not half so strong 
as I was. My appetite is poor; the doctor says I must take ex- 
ercise, and I 'm too weak to do it, that 's the fact of the matter. 
It jars my nerves. I feel best when reclining in an easy-chair or 
soft settee. I drive out occasionally, but the air affects me con- 
siderably. I don't know of one resource to relieve the mo- 
notony of my dull and tasteless existence. I thought I had 
friends ; but, the fools ! they are not willing to sit with an invalid. 
They want excitement as I used to, and that's now distasteful to 
me. 

Now I 'm all alone, with that cross old nurse, and that stern 
old doctor, with his nasty, poisonous drugs. I 'm becoming very 
feeble. My lawyer visited me the other day. I think of making 
my will. I can hardly stand ; my limbs are so trembling that 
they refuse to support me. 

I don't know who to leave my money to. I've plenty of poor 
relations, but they '11 only spend it. They are vulgar people, and 
don 't know how to use it. I guess I '11 leave it to the Club ; there 
are some noble fellows there, and they will appreciate it. How 
my eyesight fails me ! Yet I 'm young — not yet forty. 

I do n't see why I should be so weak. I haven 't done any la- 
bor ; I 've lived an easy life. What has worn out my constitu- 
tion ? The doctor says it is extreme debility, want of muscular 
energy. Strange one of my age should be worn out already ! 

Doctor, you know that old nurse the other day talked of send- 
ing for a minister. What could I do with one ? I 've never done 
anything bad. I do n't want to be shrived for my sins. If the 
minister could restore my lost health ! But he would only make 
long prayers, and ask me to remember his church in my will. I 
won't see 'em. I 'm gloomy enough now. If it's time for me to 
pass away, it 's just as well without a minister as with. 

Here Mrs. S. went through the death-scene, during which he 
muttered a prayer for forgiveness of his sins, and then she added : — 



THE UKSEALED BOOK. 381 

Is this my "body ? Pagh ! I 've left that ; it seems I 've died. 
I 've left that world, and waked up in another. After all, I am 
right by my body here. I don't want to leave it. I don't know 
where to go. I 'd like to get up above it if I could, but I can't. 
Strange ! I see people around it, fixing it. They do n't see me. Up 
above there is another kind of people. Down there they do n't 
seem to be much. They 're beckoning me to come up to them. 
I see people above me, and I '11 try to go to them ; but I seem 
very heavy, not adapted to walking on air; yet. I'm afraid to go 
away from my body, for I don't know where I 'm going. There 
is no sympathy or companionship below, and beyond all seems 
uncertainty. It 's very disagreeable traveling when one takes one 
step, and don't know where the next is going to be. I can't see 
clearly. As I leave my body in the distance I seem to be going 
into a different atmosphere; still it 's not clear, not light — very 
dim and uncertain. They are still beckoning to me. I should 
like to go there. 

There are some people approaching me. They 're strangers. I 
never saw before, very common-looking people. I think I won't 
speak to them. They're coming right up to me. They tell me 
they will lead me to the place prepared for me. Very singular ! 
a place prepared for me, and I know nothing about it. I now 
remember what the minister used to say of the glories of heaven. 
It 's there they 're going to lead me. I think they might send 
some more intelligent, genteel guides. However, I presume I '11 
find it all right, and apartments furnished sumptuously, and 
servants perfectly drilled, and the cooking of exquisite order. I 
really feel quite elated. I '11 accept the services of these common 
people ; perhaps they could n't spare their better servants to come 
such a distance. I deserve a place in heaven, I know. I never 
murdered nor robbed, but I did two or, three things not quite right, 
but they overlooked such things on earth, and why won't they 
here ? Shall I meet that female there ? But I 've no idea she 
can enter such a place. The child died, and so it is quite for- 
gotten now. Still it makes me feel unpleasant, and hesitate ; but 
among refined people it is only a youthful folly. I '11 not trouble 
myself about it. 

Strange those people do n't address me. They seem waiting for 
me ; but I suppose they are diffident, so I '11 speak first. ' Wei], 
friends, are you waiting for me ? Are you sent to conduct me to 



382 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

that beautiful place called heaven ? ' They 're not waiting for me. 
What does that mean ? Have I been deceived ? Is there no such 
place as heaven ? No such beautiful place as the minister used 
to talk about ? Yes ; then why not to your duty, and lead me 
straight there ? They tell me I must go another way. Are you 
not servants ? No. And you are to be my companions ? That's 
a mistake. Can you lead me to my friends who must be waiting 
to receive me? My father and mother must be inhabitants of 
heaven, for they were bright and shining Christians ; my brother, 
and sisters, and other relatives, must be in this vast country 
somewhere ; I 'm not accustomed to such treatment as this. 

They stand and look at me, and make no reply ; strange, I 
don't understand it. Is it possible I am to have no other com- 
panion but these common, though coarse people ? Yet they look 
honest and friendly ; but I can 't associate with them. Their 
manner of living must be so coarse. One asks me to listen to 
him. Very well, but speak quickly, for I 'm weary of this long 
delay, of this gloomy place, which is not half so good as earth. 

He tells me, they are sent to instruct me. Preposterous! 
These coarse people sent to teach me ! 

He tells me my life has been very worthless, devoid of useful- 
ness to myself or my fellow-creatures; my course was altogether 
idle and profitless, and pregnant with sin and folly. A life which 
brought me down to this level here, and beneath the rudest and 
most unrefined of God's creatures. Can this be so ? 

He tells me there is no heaven for me, until I earn it by the 
sweat of my brow, that is, with the labor of mind; that not one 
step can I ascend, only by the greatest amount of self-denial, of 
labor, of humility, and love to all below me, and a feeling of 
equality, and a wish for instruction, that I may progress out of 
my ignorance and moral deformity. 0, can that be so ? Am I 
ignorant, indeed ignorant ? 

He tells me, I must begin as a little child, and learn the first 
lessons of wisdom ; must climb step by step, purifying and ex- 
panding my inner being, until I shall attain to the level of these 
minds, which are intelligent, and improved by the knowledge of 
this country. 0, what a dreadful weary task it must be ! How 
shall I begin ? I never was able to perform labor. It is not such 
hard labor, he says, that will be required of me, but of a kind that 
will act on my spiritual body, and my spirit itself. Now, he says, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 383 

my spiritual body is unseemly and deformed by the imperfections 
of my former character. He says I could not mingle with those 
who are soaring above me, who look so light and clear in the dis- 
tance. My body partakes of the color of my mind, and that is 
very dark and unseemly. How very new all this seems to me ! 
And I must begin to study, to labor, to live and mingle with these 
coarse people; I must begin down here. 

Yet they seem very kind, and reproach me with pitying looks ; 
they take me by the hand, say they will help me. They tell me 
my mind is all a blank, and is capable of having beautiful charac- 
ters of virtue, and love, and long-suffering, and gentle persuasion, 
and heavenly aspirations written on its tablets. ! they weep 
for me and pity me ; can it be I deserve their pity ? Yes, their 
sympathizing tears seem so much more welcome to me now than 
the deceitful smiles of my earthly friends. Yes, I must cast aside 
the stubborn pride and feeling of superiority and dignity, so long 
the ruling characteristic of my being. I must humble myself, 
and begin on my humble knees to learn wisdom as a child. And 
now, when I signify my willingness to be taught by them, how 
kindly they speak to me ! How could I think them coarse ? 
Their language is, to be sure, plain and simple, but pure in tone ; 
their faces show an intelligence I did not before discover. There 
is about them a certain dignity, an air of self-possession, of firm- 
ness in all their movements, which seems to endow them with 
strength, to beautify their faces, to make their actions gentle, 
their words soft and kind. 0, I was mistaken in their appear- 
ance. Now I feel how superior they are to me; yet I do not 
judge 'em so much by appearance as by words and gestures, their 
actions, all their movements. What is it that makes these com- 
mon-looking people seem so harmoniously blending with grace, 
and look so gentle and dignified, even in their coarse apparel and 
in their rugged-looking country ? There is some mystery about 
it I don 't understand. 

Now a female speaks to me, and her tones are soft and low. 
She says : ' Brother, persevere ; begin your labor with a cheerful 
heart ; give away all the si us and follies of your past life by killing 
the remembrance of them here by good works ; and when you 
shall have become strong and manly in your development of 
mind, when you shall indeed have become a true man, fit to take 
your place in the spheres of wisdom as an individual spirit, then 



384 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

shall great strength and power be given you ; then shall bright 
and shining attendants take you by the hand, and with heavenly 
instruction cause your face to shine with knowledge, and wisdom, 
and pure love. 

' Then shall you be fit to enter that celestial land called heaven, 
where all is pure and holy, where the very atmosphere is laden 
with the whispers of love and of joy from the hearts of angels, 
who, ranging in their eternal course through the illimitable space 
of worlds, are glorifying God in their songs of joy and holiness.' " 

THE BEGGAR. 

This evening a spirit said : — 

" It is needless for me to give you a history of my earthly life. 
It is one which you are all, more or less, familiar with in some of 
its phases, as you daily witness in your streets those objects of 
want and misery called beggars. The position which I oocupied 
in your world was owing to the circumstances which surrounded 
me when I entered it. Therefore it was no sin of mine, nor no 
vicious course of conduct which reduced me to the station which 
I occupied. I was simply born a beggar, and reached the estate 
of man, being a beggar still. Circumstances had so encompassed 
me that I could never rise above that one condition ; and I passed 
from this world into the next, bearing all the characteristics of my 
mendicant's life. 

I was not considered wicked, but merely ignorant, and I thought 
if heaven was any pleasanter place than earth, food and clothing 
more easily obtained, and the comforts and luxuries of which I 
had heard, but not partaken of, were there in abundance, it must 
be a very pleasant exchange. For when I have suffered from cold 
and hunger, and have begged for a farthing to buy some food, I 
have often imagined that the cold and dreary earth could be only 
a place of punishment for some ; and that heaven must be the re- 
ward of those who had suffered while on earth ; for its goods 
always seemed to me so unequally divided, that I could not think 
that God, as a just God, would permit part of his creatures^to 
live in luxury and ease, and compel the other part to misery and 
degradation. I, in my simplicity, could not see it was the work 
of man, and was caused by the laws which man had made ; he, 
controlling the circumstances, and even, in a measure, the desti- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 385 

oies of the race. The torments of hell I conceived to apply to 
those who had turned the good things which God had given then} 
into wasteful and riotous excesses ; who had abused his rich gifts 
by turning them into instruments to serve their own sensual pas- 
sions and appetites. 

Man might be spiritual and pure for aught I know, but the 
most I had ever received from any of those who pretended to be 
law-makers and teachers, was an angry reproof because of my 
poverty and want, and an admonition to reform, which I would 
gladly have followed had I been furnished with the means to do 
it ; but I only returned to wallow in the mire again. 

. The spirit-life opened a new field to my astonished vision. 
When I put on the garb of immortality, I was a beggar no longer, 
but kind spirits came near to me, and greeted me as though I had 
been an expected friend. They welcomed me from out of my 
state of bondage and ignorance into the world of liberty and 
light. They clothed me in clean and comely robes, and they fed 
me upon the bread of eternal life, which is called wisdom. And 
they gave me to drink of the waters of that stream which flows 
through the beautiful city called Holy. And as I quaffed deep 
draughts thereof, I thirsted no more, save for the unsearchable 
love of the Father. I felt that I was indeed a new being. My 
childhood had known but few joys, and my after-life none : then 
you may judge how bright and beautiful a place the lowest seat 
in heaven would seem to me; I mean by that, how dazzling and: 
fair then seemed every thing which my eyes beheld, while I was 
only in the first sphere, or in the infant school, so to speak after 
leaving. ! how greedy my ears dranjs in every sound of wis- 
dom and knowledge, and how rapidly my soul expanded as it 
beheld the opening glories of the immortal world. They carried 
me from sphere to sphere, as my ignorance and grossness was cast 
aside, and so my heart received the word of God. 

Fair and lovely spirits now meet me, and take me by the hand, 
and show me the wonderful works of the glorious Creator. They 
support and sustain my faltering steps ; they bear me up, and. 
breathe into my soul high and holy thoughts, and now I feel that 
God is indeed just and wise, that he is all-powerful in his love 
and mercy, and that though man may trample on and crush his 
fellow-men on earth, or so warp and control their circumstances 
as to cause them misery and suffering, and condemn them to ig- 



386 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

norance ; 't is only on earth they can do it ; it extends no farther, 
and whatsoever ye shall do on earth to your fellow-man, be it 
just or unjust, ye shall be rewarded accordingly when ye put ofl 
the flesh and put on the spirit, for our God is all just and glori- 
ious, and his laws endure forever." 

THE FOOLISH MOTHER. 

Through Mrs. S. we had this communication : — 

" How unhappy I am ! I am wandering up and down, hither 
and thither. I know not where to go. Friends, I will tell you 
the reason of my misery. I was a mother. Precious souls were 
intrusted to my care, and how did I fulfil my charge? I shud- 
der now to think on the example I daily set them. I, their par- 
ent, w T ho should have instilled every gentle virtue and high pri n- 
ciple into their tender hearts, I only filled their minds with fool- 
ishness and unprofitable teachings. I brought them up to love 
external show and empty glitter. I taught them to love the 
world and the opinions of vain and conceited sons of men. I 
taught them to walk in the paths of pleasure, which but filled 
their young souls with a desire for more — more of the useless 
and unsatisfying gifts of wealth; and instead of making my 
children useful to themselves and society, I but filled their young 
souls with selfishness and pride. 

0, it is a dreadful confession for a mother to make, but I must 
tell you the truth now, though it should humiliate my soul into 
the very dust. 

I was called away from, my children just as they were emerging 
into maturity, just when they could have been turned into a good 
path, or led aside into an evil one, with no guide but a thought- 
less father, alas ! more prone to love the world than his wretched 
companion. And now, can you imagine my unhappiness ? No, 
that is impossible. I have not only seen my folly, my own wick- 
edness in every thing that pertains to a knowledge of spiritual 
life, and the soul's happiness, but I am drawn back, as it were, to 
earth, to gaze on the course of those I have left behind. Heaven 
knows I have loved them well, but with a foolish, misdirected 
love ; and now I suffer the consequences. I am daily a witness 
to the effects of my teachings. I am hourly pained with the 
breaking out of those uncultivated and grosser parts of their 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 387 

nature, which it was my duty, as a mother, to lead gently into the 
right direction ; and I see them hurrying from one folly into 
another, and I can do nought but wring my hands in mute 
despair, and wish I had never lived. I cannot look upward. I 
cannot labor for a better inheritance, for my sins of omission to 
my children are constantly reproaching me, and come black as 
night, and huge as mountains. 

When witnessing their misguiding steps, I feel, ' Mother, this 
has been thy doings. Behold, now, the seeds planted in the hearts 
of thy children bring forth fruit of dust and ashes ! ' 

Miserable mother that I am ! How wretched has been my life 
since entering the spirit-world. I have wept and prayed contin- 
ually. I have sorrowed with a deep and sincere sorrow for my 
past life, and my children's future happiness. 

Not long since, a spirit approached me, took me by the hand, 
and said, ' Cease thy useless grieving, weak mother, for thy chil- 
dren, and set about working out thy own salvation. Cast off thy 
gross, material nature, and become wise in wisdom of heaven, that 
you may be able to go back to earth, and assisted by wise and 
loving hearts, and by the strong influence of thy love, you may 
be able to approach your children, if not through your own spirit- 
influence, perchance through another's. If not through one 
channel, another may be opened, so that you can approach them. ' 
0, this thought seems too heavenly for so great a sinner as I. 
I wish to become pure. I wish to learn wisdom that I may be- 
come a fit companion for the bright ones above ; but 0, my chil- 
dren ! my children ! While I am learning wisdom, will they not 
be irretrievably lost ? through my early teachings become hard- 
ened to good impulses, or sink so deep in sin as to forget me, and 
never hear me on earth ? My heart is bursting with its great 
agony. I would fain go up, but love draws me down, so that T 
am a wretched wanderer. 

God in heaven! thou Spirit of justice, and truth, and illim- 
itable mercy, look down on me, a poor, erring mother, and guide 
me right. How little am I acquainted with that name and the 
duties I owe ! Pity me, holy spirits around this circle, in my 
weakness and sin. Entreat some loving spirit to protect my chil- 
dren while I learn wisdom and repentance. 

Heaven is a glorious place, they say, but I have never caught 
the first glimpse of its brightness. My life has been among the 



388 THE UNSEATED BOOK. 

discontented, unhappy wanderers, regretting the deeds done in 
body, and not having courage to begin the task of labor. But I 
feel there is within my soul a longing to taste of the love of God, 
to mingle with the pure and good, to leave these lower regions 
where I am so wretched and lonely. But oh, my children ! my 
children ! 

And yet I can do them no good by staying here. My soul is 
becoming worn down and overstrained in constant grasping to 
save them from ruin. I will go and make myself as a little child 
again, that I may learn to be useful ; and my object will be, that 
I may be of service to my dear children ; for I feel that I shall 
yet be enabled to lead those precious children aside from the paths 
of sin and wretchedness which they are now treading, into the pleas- 
ant way that leads to eternal life. 

Dear friends, the spirits who surround your circle allowed me 
to approach you, poor, wretched wanderer that I am, to tell you 
my experience, and 0, do you tell it to the world, that it may 
warn some foolish mother to escape the wretchedness which I 
have known since my entrance here, who are preparing for them- 
selves a heaven or a hell, in proportion to the love they bear their 
children. Tell them their example and teachings will be ever 
before them, reproaching or approving. 

My tale is ended. Thanks, and good-night." 

EXTEACTS FKOM COMMUNICATIONS GIVEN BY JOHN C. CALHOUN, 
LORENZO DOW, AND OTHERS. 

" My object in coming here, is to me a very great one, and, God 
knows, I wish it was so to the world at large. I wish, I desire, I 
pray most fervently, that we might feel how great the responsibility 
that is resting on each one who has heard the revelations of life 
and truth, to spread the echo, to spread the circle of sound, of 
thought, of energy, of ambition to excel in the labors of the field 
in which they are placed, by being partakers of this high and 
holy privilege — privilege unfathomable, untold, unfelt, and un- 
expressed, ever changing, ever beautifying, and becoming more 
lovely, more light, more holy, more serene in its outward paths. 

My experience as a spirit is very limited in comparison with 
some with whom you have conversed, and I deeply feel it to be so, 
to-night. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 389 

I deeply feel the barrenness of my soul, the lack of wisdom, the 
dread of ridicule, the loss of friends, the thought of enemies 
which debarred me from participating, from being experienced, 
from a want of knowledge of this holy privilege. 

Why, my friends, while in the form it was not a new thing to 
me. 0, no ! it was a great reality, which my soul felt to be 
true, but dared not own. Have I not felt the presence of my. 
friends around me in my seasons of despondency and doubt ? I 
believed it, but dared not say it. 

That i dared ' — shall I tell you what it did to mo ? It shut out 
from my soul a revelation that might have gladdened it, and com- 
pels me now to unbeam, when the covering of clay was thrown off. 

Ask him, and him, and him, if he has not felt the presence of 
loved friends departed ? a mother, a child, a wife, was near ? 
Yes, and the inmost heart, welling up from the depths of the in- 
most tenderness, will answer. 

It is the connecting link between the spirits of your sphere 
and ours ; the cord that draws the spirit back to earth and ele- 
vates the thought back to heaven. 

This may to many seem a small, worthless, and even absurd 
subject. The great and mighty of the earth despise small things ; 
yet it is the small things, the trifles, which draw out the tender- 
est emotions of the heart. They swell and overflow. Have not 
the high and mighty those well-springs in their heart's ? Yes, 
every heart will gush up; and through their affections must the 
mighty ones be reached. 

This intercourse is calculated to bring heaven and earth more 
closely together, and to make man feel his responsibility as man, 
to lift him up from his degradation; and when you see this fully, 
you will not say the spirits' labor has been in vain. When the 
unfolding light of spiritual communication shall reach the hearts 
of the sons and daughters of earth, it will come with sweet hu- 
mility, open their eyes, and show them wherein they err. It will 
set them to thinking ; and every heart thus set to thinking, will 
feel, ' Thou art the man.' 

No one will be overlooked in the crowd, the great spirits will 
take cognizance of all, the high and the low. 

Some say, I '11 believe when others do. If so, you lose much 
precious time by tarrying. Sometimes the laggard is caught in 
darkness ere he is aware. 



390 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

How very dim life on earth seems to me now ! I look upon it 
as a troubled dream, wherein were indeed some bright spots, some 
kind feelings shed around my path to make it brighter. I was 
but the germ placed in a casket of clay, whose inner unfoldings, 
whose heaven-sent aspirations, should have begun to develop them- 
selves sooner while placed there. 

Of every man shall be required a talent. Let each ask, have I 
one, and will the Lord require that talent of me ? Most assured- 
ly, my friends. Do not hide it in the ground, but let it shine 
forth to warn your fellow-men. It was given to use: one may 
help another, and all mingle and combine together, and make up 
the great sun which giveth life on earth. 

Every created one has some germ of beauty to be expanded. 
All are not unfolded, because the present state of society forbids 
it. What beautiful spirits are hid below the superstition, igno- 
rance, error, and poverty that surround you ! 

When will man feel that his fellow-man requires a talent at his 
hand ? As ye do it to these little ones, so ye do it unto me. 

You may think that all are not performing a work. All can- 
not, through the force of circumstances. The work which en- 
ables the rich man to roll in luxury, causes the sweat to pour 
from the poor man's brow. Is this right ? Is your society organ- 
ized aright ? Were labor so equalized that all might bear a part, 
each in his respective capacity, all might share in the benefits, 
and yet all be in their proper places, not to create confusion, or a 
vast revolution, or plan of socialism, but so dividing and dif- 
fusing, that the wants of all should supply the wants of all ; the 
works of all supply the works of all, mind as well as labor. By 
so doing there would be no necessity for the poor beggar to wan- 
der through your streets, for the little stray waifs, the homeless 
ones, to be cast on the broad sands of iniquity. 

How the spirits grieve at the lowness of those who are made to 
grovel'm the dust by the selfishness and rapacity of their follows 
in humanity ! The humblest creature, however deformed or 
warped, is capable of being cultivated in his own sphere, and be- 
ing made useful. 

Friends! won't you work to bring this about? Won't you 
speak to those in high places ? It will begin as a drop and flow 
out and become a stream, and grow broader in the glad sun- 
light. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 391 

The seed is not always sown on fallow ground. In some places 
it will yield fifty-fold ; and if it yield only one, will it not satisfy 
you that you are improving your time ? 

Do you not perceive, as you use your talent, it will increase; 
that it confers more strength on the owner, as well as extends to 
others the benefits which you have so bountifully received ? " 

" I see this fire, kindled by love and harmony, which consti- 
tutes brotherly love, will closely bind you as with a chain whose 
links shall become more immovable, as the desires of each shall 
fervently ascend to Heaven for strength to progress into the 
heaven on earth which you are all expecting to realize. And to 
attain this end, let each and all of you measure your own heaven 
by your own experience, extending your mind to no greater than 
that which you are able to grasp. Be content with the unfold- 
ing of the germ which in due time will become a bud, and which, 
when the bud is sufficiently matured, will burst into a flower. 
But were the flower to unfold before it was sufficiently strength- 
ened to receive the rays of light, it would shrink back within 
itself, and be withered by the effulgence which it could not bear. 
My wish is, that every soul may see its own heaven. 0, do not 
measure your own experience by one another's, but look within 
your own hearts, and receive the draught of happiness in what- 
ever measure it may be meted out to you, and be assured that you 
receive as much as you are able to bear, though it may seem to 
come slowly. 

A great work, to be greatly advanced, must be carried along 
slowly, continually, and steadily, yet with an unwavering faith. 
The workmen must first lay a sure foundation, which must first 
commence in their own minds ; and when the foundation is sure, 
solid, and unshrinking, then it is time to proceed swiftly with 
the rearing of the structure, the greatness of which will require 
many and all manner of laborers before it shall attain its perfec- 
tion. And patience, hope, trusting, and long-suffering, will be 
requisite for each and all, while this mighty work proceeds. 

Be ye dwellers in the green and shady valley, and listen to the 
quiet murmur of the stream whose waters are as a deep flow of 
joy. Seek not to climb the mountain while you are yet feeble, 
but enjoy the beauties within your reach, and let the mountain 
come to you. When you have become sufficiently strong, you 
will not be overcome by the brightness of the light. 



392 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

The general teachings of the present day, are of such a conflict- 
ing and fluctuating nature, as to create rather antagonistic feel- 
ings, than sentiments of harmony. One party maintains teachings 
which are in direct opposition to those of another, and each ex- 
claims, ' Walk in the path which we are treading, for it will surely 
lead you to the haven for which you are seeking ; our teacher 
can explain all things to your satisfaction.' And still another, 
and another party, walk with like texts upon their hearts. And 
shall these men say, We follow the Bible ? I say, they follow the 
teachings of the different minds, which put different construc- 
tions on the same revelations. Then what man shall say (and 
feel secure), I am right, and you are wrong ? or who shall say, I 
worship no graven image, but the image of the living G-od ? 

My friends, this mingling of so many rights, makes one great 
wrong of society as it now exists. The present social structure 
is inharmoniously organized, and disorderly arranged; for the 
man of might is the man of right, and that only by the authority 
which his might gives. And the man of honesty, is oftentimes 
the man of beggary, through the advantage which the man of 
selfishness gains, making him the stepping-stone to the throne of 
power, whereon mammon sits enthroned, wielding a brazen scep- 
tre which is called gold, and before whose presence the man of 
need, and the daughters of drudgery, the hewers of wood, and the 
drawers of unclean water for unclean purposes, are made to bow 
in humble submission. And who shall say that wrong will make 
right, until the wrong of oppression is taken from the hands of 
the oppressor ? The strings which have vibrated in his heart, are 
those of avarice and ungodly gain ; and the might which he exer- 
cises so unjustly keeps the hearts of the oppressed, from catching 
even a glimpse of the treasures which lie concealed within their 
own being, thus shutting out from them the light, which it is their 
right to enjoy as sons and daughters of a common Father. Ah ! 
that wrong tramples upon a great right, and its course may be 
traced to the very depths of misery and iniquity, which are filled 
by a combination of wrongs. And as we gaze upon the vast picture 
of dreary desolation, and shudder at the black and repulsive ap- 
pearance of the surrounding world, we feel that a great work is to 
be carried on, executed, and accomplished. A mighty work it is, 
to stir up the fountains of the human heart, that men may become 
alive to the state of those whom they call brothers. How much they 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 393 

make this a term of derision; and by the very mention of such 
relations, they seem to disgrace the Parent who could so unwisely 
divide the inheritance of earth among those who are called his 
children. Thinking minds will ask themselves the question, Are 
we not robbing our brothers of their birthright ? and the more 
fully and evenly developed minds, will see the immediate cause 
for action in themselves. 

When the character and responsibilities of every mind is placed 
in this light, it will be easy to perceive where the path of duty 
lies. And I am persuaded that all who wish to perform that 
important part of life called duty, will have an ample scope for 
indulging their desire. There will be no necessity for one look- 
ing upon another and saying, What shall we do to be saved? 
but each individual must take the work into his own hands to 
save his fellow-man from the state which has been induced by 
darkness of mind and oppression of soul. This is a work in 
which angels on high, whose robes are pure and shining with 
holy light, rejoice to be engaged in; and, mortal man, think 
never that thou art free from responsibility to heaven, so long as 
the condition of thy fellow-beings on the earth, thy brothers and 
sisters, requires the talent which God has given to thy mind, and 
which in time will be required of thee as being increased or di- 
minished by the use to which it is devoted. 

children of earth, turn from your lofty structures erected 
for the worship of the Most High, and go forth beneath the star- 
lit canopy, to receive with inward joy the echo, the spirit-echo, 
which shall meet you ; it shall embrace you, and fill you with 
love, with joy, and with peace unutterable. 0, the unsophisticated 
mind is, indeed, capable of high development ! " 

" Make unto thyself a world of beauty within ; an inner life, a 
holy of holies, a sacred place where none may intrude, a spot 
dedicated in all its beauty and glory as the sanctuary of the most 
high God. This is within thee, it is a part of thee, it is all 
sparkling and shining. It needs but to be pervaded by the holy 
presence, the essence of soul, the life of light ; for behold ! as the 
dew vanisheth from the grass where it hath glittered as diamonds 
in the morning sun, it passeth away, and ye behold it no more, 
ye recognize it not again ; so will all external beauties fade ; so, 
in time, shall they cease to give thy heart joy, and thy soul glad- 
ness. Thou wilt look back upon the past as a man who has 



394 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

walked in a sleep, struggling and striving with great phantoms, 
even those of his destiny. And when the light which made thee 
glad hath passed away into the darkness of oblivion, then shall 
the deep, low breathing of thy spirit's immortal harmony raise up 
within thee a light, a soft and sweet melody, which shall be a joy to 
thee forever. Tliat is not earth ; that f adeth not away ; that is endur- 
ing and immortal, even as the glory of thy God is immortal, only 
changing from one glory to a greater and greater/' 

"Are we to suppose that the great Deity, in his wisdom, and 
in contradiction to his natural laws, poured out his spirit in other 
days more abundantly, and refined men's souls more quickly 
than now ? Have we, indeed, cultivated all the revealed wisdom 
which has been manifested since the beginning ? And does the 
human race become grosser and less refined, or spiritualized, in its 
development, both physically and mentally, than it did in former 
years ? If so, then would this world present a very different ap- 
pearance. Instead of the active, progressive principle which is 
ever urging you onward and upward to excel each other in every 
thing, you would be a nation of sluggards, content to have your 
worship measured out to you, to be performed in proper quanti- 
ties, and then, like poor slaves, having performed your duties, you 
would retire, feeling that this is all that is required of you as 
men and Christians, for the welfare of your immortal souls. 

But the enlightened mind now turns with uneasiness and dis- 
gust from such senseless ceremonies. It refuses to be led y one 
mind to a certain point, and then to be commanded to retire, 
saying, ' Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther ! ' But it will pen- 
etrate farther ; it will not rest in its spiritual darkness, gazing 
only upon the things which have become old, and stale, and wear- 
isome, from continued repetition. It wants something more. It is 
becoming so refined in its progressive state of activity, that it 
reaches beyond the established rules which have hitherto been its 
guide. 

And with this longing, this deep aspiration after a greater 
knowledge of the inner laws which control the being of man, be- 
gins an expansion, weak and fluttering at first, trembling as 
though afraid to tread on forbidden ground ; and yet how eager 
becomes the soul, as every new glimpse of light flashes upon its 
astonished vision! And presently the soul becomes stronger, 
more firm in its purpose, more bold in its demands ; the flicker- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 395 

ing views which it has already received, now propel it with great 
rapidity. 

" And the sky seems like one broad arch of glory, whereon is 
reflected the love of the Father upon his children, and nought 
seems dark and dreary but the human soul ; for here, wretched- 
ness, vice, selfishness, and pride go hand-in-hand to destroy their 
victims ; and here is seen the folly of men's laws ! 

Here may be seen the great point of man's development, when 
giving strict and impartial justice to his fellow-men ; for here, 
one who has never gazed before, would think God forever smiled 
on one part of his children, and condemned the other part to 
endless misery and wretchedness, so different do their paths and 
pursuits appear. What a clashing and jarring of interests on one 
side, and want on the other ! The rich man desires to be rich 
still ; and why should he not ? for it insures him luxury and 
ease ; but the poor man desires to be rich ; and why should he 
not ? for his life seems one long day of toil, and his moments of 
rest are scarce sufficient to recruit the wants which will not be 
denied, so long as life is sustained ; and he is not in a natural 
position to follow out the great end and aim of his destiny. 

The people being so unequally divided as regards temporal ad- 
vantages, must also continue, in like manner, unequally enlight- 
ened in a spiritual direction, until there are many vast changes 
in the state of society ; and this will not be brought about until 
the eyes of those are opened widely to their position, who enjoy 
time and opportunity to acquire new knowledge. And when 
some great souls have been waked up from their long dream of in- 
dolence and ease to a right sense of their true responsibility, they 
will be up and doing. They will lay down great principles; they 
will create a grand platform upon which these principles of equal- 
ity and fraternity must be firmly established ; and they will make 
man to see how degraded is his position, as an immortal soul, 
as an individual whose birth-right is as secure and indispensable 
to his heaven-born inheritance as that of the reputed noblest in 
the land, first in a temporal, and then in a spiritual point of 
view. For how can his spirit ever mount beyond its little abode 
here, while crushed by privation and want ? The temporal state 
of mankind is their greatest barrier against their spiritual devel- 
opment, and let them but be shown how they may improve their 
condition, or how their lives may become pleasanter and better, 



396 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

let tliem be made acquainted with the great laws of equality, 
which should govern the human family, and they will join togeth- 
er, heart and hand, to advance the cause. They will soon lose 
their air and mein of servants, and all will become as brethren, 
standing on one broad platform, open alike to the interests of all. 

Then let those who have spiritual gifts use them, when spirit- 
ual gifts are needed, and those who have temporal gifts apply 
them also to the lifting up of their fellow-men, for, verily, every one 
will have to give an account of his talent, and every talent may 
be applied to a different use, all varied, but still useful and har- 
monious. 

My friends not yet in the light, in whose souls the seeds of 
truth are not yet quickened by the light of love, by affliction, or 
so-called trial, may sneer at these facts, and say that they will 
allow their spiritual advisers to dictate their charity and their 
faith, but believe me, ye who listen, there is no such compromise 
with the angels whose unerring record tallies every act of man, 
and marks them in the tablet of his own heart. The ceaseless 
tide of compensation flows on and on, forever, and charity can 
no more be separated from justice, than the sun can be torn by 
the power of man from yonder heavens. Who, then, will dare to 
dispense judgment, or who will place the responsibility of so- 
called crimes. Not thou, man ! whose standard is the narrow 
platform of sectarianism, whose life is measured by the shortest 
span, and whose happiest hour is when some necessity of the 
great brotherhood of humanity enables thee to place thy stock 
and trade beyond the reach of him who toils for his daily bread, 
and whose shivering offspring is denied only that which fashion- 
ably dressed charity regards as popular. O ye who would enter 
the silvery gateway, and listen to the sweet songs of an approving 
conscience, know that ye can entertain angels, and that within 
the gardens of your souls will spring up bright and beautiful 
flowers, which will shade thy pathway to the temples of the liv- 
ing God within. Be not strangers to yourselves ; listen to those 
intuitions which speak unmistakably to thy spiritual being; let 
them be first in the market-place and at the fireside, for ye will 
find them bringing you nearer and nearer to the kingdom, which 
first sought and made to dwell within you, all other things shall 
be added thereto. 

The heavens are unfolding as a scroll of light, and the day of 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 397 

new things is dawning upon the children of men, and they shall 
know, because God hath willed it so, and sent his holy spirits to 
tell them that they are free, because truth is free, and light is 
free. And God hath said, ' Let there be light/ and lo, it cometh 
so soon as men can bear it. Therefore prepare yourselves to re- 
ceive it. 

The following, from a letter which I received some time since, 
will be found to contain the impress of thoughts upon tonics 
little treated of in this work, notwithstanding their great impor- 
tance. I give it simply as an individual opinion, my own miud 
never having been exercised in that direction. Whether my 
spirit-guides will proffer any remarks upon, or suggestions in 
connection with the subject-matter contaiued therein, will doubt- 
less be made manifest, after the extract has been penned. 

" Howsoever much you may be tried in regard to your belief, I 
know you will not swerve one iota from what you believe to be 
right and just. Do not allow present adverse circumstances to 
weigh on your mind, for although we may be called upon, at 
times, to sacrifice the physical, to obtain the spiritual, I believe 
it to be an abnormal rather than a natural state, caused by artifi- 
cial surroundings, and by the coarse requirements of a material 
and physical existence. The true life, if we could only be per- 
mitted to live one, would not call for any physical sacrifice, for 
the physical would then be in harmony with the spiritual. I 
merely state the foregoing, without wishing to elaborate, as I 
wish to get at Mr. Fowler, as you have been brought in contact 
with him. I suppose you will see something more than a coinci- 
dence in events as transpired, and perhaps there is, but you must 
know, that I do not possess your faith. My experience has not 
been such as to inculcate faith in my nature, that is, faith wherein 
the reason cannot go. 

But to Mr. Fowler : He is a thorough, scientific scholar, and 
anything he may have said, or has written, is entitled to serious 
consideration. Yet I must be allowed to say that, judging from 
his writings, he reasons from a purely scientific and material 
standpoint. This, from any one in his line, is all we ought to 
expect. He does not seem to have much of the spiritual in his 
nature ; but as I judge wholly from his writings, I may be in er- 



398 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

ror. His book on Sexual Science, or the Science of Life, is an 
invaluable work, but, like all the productions of man, is open to 
criticism. He tells us that ' a man or woman, married to one, be- 
tween whom no love exist, is simply adultery;' and, if either loves 
another, he calls it ' double adultery/ This no one can deny ; 
but when, in another place, he tells us, in very vulgar terms, that 
every woman has her price, — of course he means through love — I 
feel as if I should like to take him to task. In connection with 
the above, he tells us, that (he quotes some one else and adopts 

it) any woman in love, can be in forty-eight hours. This 

does not detract from him credit on the other portions of his 
work, yet, in my estimation, it does lower him as a man. While 
it may be true as regards a great majority of women, he has no 
right to make so sweeping an assertion. He may be a phrenolog- 
ical scholar ; he may be benevolent and have many noble virtues ; 
yet the ideal has no existence in his nature. Perhaps he would 
tell us that idealty has no place or existence in science ; but then 
we know that science cannot measure the human heart, nor can 
it measure the height or depth of a single soul in existence. 
Perhaps, after all, I have not been just, or charitable enough with 
him ; but he might, at least, have put it in a less repulsive manner. 
In regard to the past, present, and future, as regards marriage, 
polygamy, etc., monogamy is superior to polygamy; the former 
removed some of the evils of the latter, but not all. The future 
must, and will do its work, just as sure as life continues. Love 
will accomplish the unfinished work — love free and unfettered 
by idle forms and ceremonies. We speak of man and woman as 
two distinct and separate species, yet it takes the two to form a 
dual one; neither is without the other; it takes two to make a 
perfect one. Do you comprehend and sense what I mean ? What, 
then, makes the union? is it a form or particular ordinance? 
How ridiculous ! If one loves the other, and that love is recipro- 
cated, there is a marriage, and the union is complete ; love, and 
love only, can make a union. But we may love one for a time, 
and then one may outgrow the other and demand an higher 
union. This is perfectly logical. What, then, can be done ? I 
speak here not confining time or marriage to earth-life, for we 
love in the life to come as we do here. Love alone must be the 
judge; but some may object on the plea that many would inter- 
pret licentiousness as being love. True, but we cannot expect to 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 399 

flee from all evil at one step. At the worst it could be no worse 
than the present false system. We cannot expect to live a per- 
fect life here ; we could not even if left to ourselves, and then we 
have the world around us. 

Mr. Fowler, in all probability, meant, when he said the future 
was neither polygamy nor monogamy, promiscuity, as advocated 
by Moses Hull and his school. This has been derided, even by 
free lovers ; yet there is some truth in it, and it possesses many 
virtues; but I do not regard it as a permanent condition ; it can 
only be a stepping-stone to a higher sphere. It may be a neces- 
sity for many to pass through it ; the fact is, we cannot lay down 
any law or system of laws that will be applicable to all ; the best 
we can do is to be true to ourselves and our own natures. I speak 
now in a wide sense ; I care not how far you may carry the appli- 
cation practically, in any form you choose ; it will hold good all 
the way. I know you will excuse me for speaking plainly, for we 
cannot be understood unless we do so. Then to proceed : If Mr. 
Hull or any of his belief think themselves justified in living with 
one woman, and living on very intimate terms with another, I hoid 
that they are justified ; for if this system were to be abused it 
would only be temporarily ; the evil would be overcome by pro- 
gression, and the participants would emerge as from a refining 
furnace. The vicious would mingle, sexually, only with the 
vicious, the refined with the refined, etc., through all creation ; 
for all creation is ruled by law as unerring as a law in mathe- 
matics, and that law is — God. Every feeling of our nature, 
every desire, every aspiration was planted in us by Him ; and if 
these are not satisfied it is proof conclusive that we are violating 
His law. This, also, holds good wherever you may carry it. We 
may not all be enabled to do what is right, but that does not in- 
validate the right. Take thousands of men and women in exis- 
tence, some married and some not, all are alike governed by 
certain unerring, sexual laws, some to a greater or lesser extent, it 
is true, yet all under the law. Take the unmarried first ; here is 
a number of men and women controlled by a law created by God 
that attracts one to the other, who are prevented by one thing 
or another beyond their control from following out a God-given 
law. Would such be right in thrusting aside all obstacles in their 
path, that have been created by society, and fulfilling the behests 
of nature? Fowler holds that they would, and many others 



400 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

skilled in medical science as well as physiology, hold and teach 
the same doctrine. Of course they tell us that all should be 
under intellectual control. But if such a doctrine is right for 
any, it is right for all ; if it is not right for all it is right for 
none. 

If my views are wrong, I shall see it in the future ; you, per- 
haps, can correct me, for a woman's perceptions on such subjects 
are more likely to be right than a man's. 

As regards what you are pleased to call my ' work : ' As 
things are now, I can do nothing in that line but keep a grim 
silence. I should like, some time, to finish a work I have on my 
mind. If I had the ability to do it justice, it would take its place 
as a standard work in literature. I would first trace down the 
religious wars of history from the earliest time, but more es- 
pecially from the ascension of Constantine to the Eoman throne, 
and to show the misery and desolation entailed on the human race 
by the same. To show up the several saviours the world has known, 
and compare their teachings, showing that each was the natural 
outgrowth of the other, from the cradle of our race : to show up 
the true position of Jesus Christ and his teachings, and that he 
was but an advance pioneer of those who immediately preceded 
him ; to look into the new systems of government, social and 
political, and examine the true government for the future, to wit, 
the commune, or harmonial republic. Such a work would require 
years of close application to study and research. But I must 
close my too long letter. If Mr. F. said anything that you can 
draw any inferences from, please let me know ; also if there is any- 
thing said in your communications through Mrs. R that would 

interest or instruct me. Do the best you can, enjoy yourself, 
and do not let your mind be troubled. You have trusted so implic- 
itly to your guides, that it seems as if all things must be for the 
best ; should think you would bring them down to the practical 
affairs of life as well as the spiritual and literary." 

There is indeed much we would gladly give in connection with 
the foregoing- ea, so much that the few suggestions to which 
we must necessarily restrict ourselves seem as nought in compar- 
ison with the volumes of mystery yet to be unveiled to the sons 
of earth through the instrumentality of, or by the co-operation 
of the "just made perfect," who are continually striving with 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 401 

humanity, even as the angel of the Lord wrestled with Jacob. 
that, like him, they would cry out and say, "We will not let 
thee go except thou bless us," for then would the spirit of the 
Lord be poured upon all flesh, their name should no more be 
coupled with ignorance, and confined within the narrow limits of 
arbitrary conventional rules. But our words must be few ; for, 
as before stated, we have already superseded all bounds as re- 
gards quantity, yet at the same time we are aware that many 
highly important subjects and interesting stages of development 
have been treated in a desultory and perhaps unsatisfactory man- 
ner. This could not be avoided where so wide a range of progres- 
sive and practical thoughts and ideas were endeavoring to force 
their way through the narrow channel of communication opened 
up to them. 

In the present instance we can scarcely refrain from giving 
place to a few remarks, if only to encourage our brother, whose 
honesty of purpose and sincerity of heart seem stamped upon 
every line of his writings. 

Most truly be it said, that inharmonious marriage is one of the 
greatest of social evils, and has from the beginning of time en- 
tailed upon the human family more misery and suffering, both 
physical and mental, than all other misdevelopments combined. 

There are " no sweets like those of spiritual or congenial mar- 
riage; no bitterness so bitter as false unions, such as are often 
recklessly formed on earth ; they are not unions, but rather an- 
imal connections. Heavenly marriage, the union of congenial 
spirits, results in certain and unalloyed bliss. This is the state 
in which the individuality of each is swallowed up in the other, 
and the two are made one, a unit in thought, feeling, sentiment, 
and aspiration. Their children are what nature designed children 
to be, perfect models, and trained from infancy in morality and 
intellect. They are perfect types of what man should be, to go 
rapidly on to perfection. 

The virtuous man and woman have peculiar sympathies which 
they cannot express. They have strong desires for congenial 
companionship. The mind images to itself the felicity of a union 
with another appreciating mind. It meets its object, and then 
knows that no mind is perfect without its mate. As the brain is- 
constituted of two hemispheres, so it takes two minds to perfect 
one. God has planted these desires in the human soul, and, un- 



402 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

der proper regulations, the soul must act true to its promptings. 
Thus it recognizes its mate, and has a foretaste of the joys a 
union will produce. Now let it be turned off with a cold, antag- 
onistical companion, and it is crushed. The peace of the family 
circle is broken by discord ; the lower passions of the offspring 
are continually influenced by their sympathy with the parents. 
The more spiritual the mind, the more discrimination it possesses 
in the recognition of its true mate ; and the more debased, the 
less discernment it possesses. 

If you would exalt your children through life and through 
eternity, make the family circle harmonious and pure ; make it a 
primary school and college in which may be learned lessons of 
wisdom and virtue. 

Men are not free. Some are slaves to their passions, some to 
their creeds, some to their superstitions and prejudices. He who 
dares to stand up nobly, defending his manhood and acting true 
to his convictions, is but one in millions. 

Every man and woman should consider themselves individual 
sovereigns, to think and to act as best pleases themselves, if they 
do not infringe on the rights of others. There should be no con- 
formity except to Nature. The thoughts of yesterday, if they 
cannot bear the light of to-day, should be cast aside. 

True, there are those, now and then, whom nothing can cor- 
rupt, so elevated in their sublime spirituality that they can walk 
through the depth of depravity, unscathed ; but such are excep- 
tions. The great multitude are all subject to surrounding 
circumstances. Exercise your charity then, in changing the 
condition of the miserable, and elevating the wretched. 

To this end, unite with a congenial mind. You say all strive 
to do so. Yes, but they only strive with their animal instincts, 
not with the attractions of the spirit. There are numerous posi- 
tive attractions in the essence of the soul, which, if followed, will 
find their proper negatives. You should rise above all conven- 
tional regulations, and follow the dictates of reason and wisdom, 
and become passive to their impressions. The spirit desires to 
find its mate. If it fails, it is like the turtle-dove ; it mourns, 
night and day, over hill and dale, to find the counterpart of its 
being. The ceremony is nothing ; the heart is all. 

Many are going to the banquet of woe with garlands of roses 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 403 

on their brows, all unsuspicious of the sufferings they are to en- 
dure. And is there no remedy ? 

Yes, a remedy is near. They must be instructed. Laws are 
seldom violated wilfully, but almost always through ignorance. 
They must be made to see the right, and to recognize the grand 
difference between animal instinct and angelic love. Where the 
spirit leads, go. Magnets have not surer attractions than affini- 
ties of soul." 

We would say to thee, brother, Go forth in the strength of thy 
manhood, and boldly teach these lofty doctrines as transmitted 
to thee from the life-spheres above. Free love, as now under- 
stood, or rather misunderstood, is not practicable for the age, and 
its tendency, until mankind become more pure, would be perni- 
cious. " Free love is for man only when he becomes an angel. 
But teach how mutual attractions may be recognized and pre- 
served. Teach the world that marriage is above animal instinct ; 
an eternal relation of the souls of two immortals; that death 
changes not the relations that congenial minds hold to each other, 
rather strengthening the ties of affection; teach how the soul 
may be read beneath its exterior garment, and how all its interior 
promptings and desires may be determined. 

Go down in the sunbeams of morning's light, and write for 
the world. What you write will be read and criticised to-day, 
and the present generation will profit very little by it. But the 
young and expanding minds will reflect on these things, and in 
ages to come they shall tell, and become a greater monument 
than you now hope to rear. Your name shall be given to the 
truths you teach, which, combined, will ultimate in an institu- 
tion, and you will speak through the centuries. We all have ap- 
propriate spheres to fill; this is yours; and the infinite God 
speaks to you — go. Perform the task • assigned you on earth, 
that it may not check your progress here. Do right, act justly, 
love your race. Then will you softly close your eyes in sleep 
when age has settled on your earthly form. No shadow will 
darken your soul ; but peacefully will the internal unfold itself, 
and you will awake in heaven, an angel of light." 

Our next may properly be styled " gleanings," as it consists of 
scraps culled from the various letters of a friend. These, though 



404 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

bearing different dates, all come within the purview of our regret- 
ted "New Departure." 

"DeakE : 

" said I must write you a word, as you would be 

looking for a letter to-day or to-morrow. I told her I hardly 
felt that anything I could say would be of much interest to you, 
as it would have to be composed mainly of earthly things. We 
are all very happy ; only one thing worries me somewhat : in your 
New Departure, or new life, it is hard to make you seem like the 
dear E. of old. Perhaps this is only my idea ; to all of the rest 
you may seem the same, only drifted away from me. I am afraid 
the coming years in your new way will not bring increased hap- 
piness to you ; it seems to me the intense strain upon your mental 
powers will sooner break down your body, than the quiet, happy 
life you have known in the years that are gone. I say this in 
sorrow, not in anger or reproach, and surely, not that I think 
anything which I say will change your course, as I do not ever 
expect to try to turn you from the path you have chosen. But I 
think if you would look backward, you would see in the years 
that have gone in the old way, calm happy hours, which, if they 
were not lived in so intense an atmosphere, will yet live in your 
memory as the pleasant spots in life. If anything I have said 
hurts you, am sorry; if it does you good, shall be glad of it. 
That kind angels will watch over you always, is the wish of ." 

" The memorial service for Mr. was wondrously beautiful. 

One item of it might perhaps comfort you if you needed it. He 

(the speaker) said, Mr. told him a day or two before he died, 

that he had prayed that he might have some token that his faith 
and hope were sure ; and that in the stillness of the night, he saw 
the Ruby Gates opened, and looked in upon the golden streets, 
and saw the New Jerusalem. And again, at his bedside appeared 
a form like unto the Son of God, and kindly beckoned him home ; 
and then 't was given him to know, that but a few hours would 
pass before he would be at rest in the bosom of his Father." 

" It seems a long, long time, since you went away. Have you 
had a good time ? I think you said you were among people who 
understood you. I give them credit for being good, bright people 
if they can do it, for I can't, and I have thought I knew some- 
thing about you; but since your literary career commenced, I 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 405 

give it np. Have been expecting to see, in some paper, *. Among 
the Pines/ Are you writing yet ? does the gentle muse still lin- 
ger in your heart? Well, I won't abuse you any more this time; 
hope that you are well, and truly happy, and that you may be 
tenderly cared for always." 

" We have read your book and sent it down to . You know, 

or can imagine, that it has not been popular in L . There 

has been a great deal of talk about it, and people are continually 
asking if you are coming back. I do not think the New Depar- 
ture has added to any one's pleasure, unless it is yours ; but will 
not scold you. We are all drifting swiftly towards the better 
Country. May bright flowers ever bloom in your pathway, and 
may God kindly care for you ever, is the good-night wish of 

Your Friend." 

Think'st thou, my friend, that earthly things no longer 
Charm mine eyes — no joy unto my soul impart? 
That I could cast aside the cherished friends 
Who have to me been always kind and true ? 
Nay, friend, angelic ones teach otherwise : 
Earth's useless dross may be consumed ; the gold 
Comes forth resplendent from the seething flames. 
And so with us : each trial sore, rightly 
Applied, refines and purifies the heart. 
All wrong desires we hope and pray may die, 
But shall our holy friendships ? Nay, not these ; 
They may, perchance, within this world of strife 
Put forth "nothing but leaves ;" yet, in that clime 
Genial and fair, they'll yield' immortal blooms. 
Again, methinks thou dost most blindly err 
In seeking present joys so entirely 
From past experience. Believe me, friend, 
The memory of those calm, happy hours 
Will live ; no change of time can them efface. 
Yet, is there not in store for all, brighter 
Joys ahead? Yea, brighter, purer, rarer, 
Less mixed with earth's corroding cares and woes. 
Then forward, heavenward, turn thy course — let not 



406 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

The past regretted be, except the ills 
\ And errors blind. Thus shalt thou for thyself 
A glorious future help prepare ; angels, 
Thine own dear guardian ones, will smile on thee. 
And aid thee to safe* anchor cast — at Home. 

What have we here, so " wondrously beautiful," 

Which casts o'er thee a hallowed spell, lingers 

So tenderly within the precincts of 

Thine own spirit's abode, until it has, 

Through thee, unconscious friend, its heaven-appointed 

Mission inscribed? Yea, indelibly, too, 

Upon the pages of eternity. 

Thou had'st no thought of tracing in lettered 

Words this beautiful vision, bright and fair. 

No more had I, but angels willed it so. 

Yea, much more than this did they also vouchsafe, 

For through a stranger unto me did come 

A message from the heavenly spheres, even 

From the abode of Him, thine honored friend, 

Who saw the ruby gates unfold, the golden 

Streets beheld. Believest thou this, my friend? 

'Tis true. Wouldst thou learn when and how, through 

whom? 
I'll tell thee, for it did me much surprise, 
So unexpectedly it came ; I scarce 
Myself could it believe and realize 
At the time. 



The day following the receipt of your letter, I was engaged in 
copying manuscript, when a neighbor of the friends I was stop- 
ing with called at the house : a lad, I think, fifteen or sixteen 
years of age. He had not been aware, until a short time previous 
to that, that he possessed mediumistic powers, so of course was 
undeveloped in that capacity, the leading phase of which was 
trance. He had several times become unconscious, spirits giving 
messages through him. As we sat there he was controlled, but could 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 407 

not at first speak ; he held up one hand and made as if writing 
upon it with the other, pointing to me and gesticulating, as if 
there was something he wished to convey or make me compre- 
hend. I supposed, of course, it must be something in connection 
with my writings, and remarked to that effect. He shook his 
head, and at the same time became possessed of the power of 
speech, though talking rather incoherently, as the first control 
was an Indian spirit. He gave me to understand, however, that 
it was to the contents of your letter he wished to direct my atten- 
tion. As if to convince me of the truth of this, he gave, without 
a word from me, the name of the deceased therein written ; then 
followed a recital of the vision, given correctly and understanding!?, 
though in broken accents, at the close of which the spirit said : 
"0, him so happy — have no pain now. He no wants to come back" 

The Indian spirit then said there was some one present who 
wanted to talk with me, and gave his name. It was that of a 
highly esteemed citizen of our town, who had been in spirit-life 
but a few years. He controlled the medium, and not only con- 
firmed what had been said, but gave some further information 
regarding his spirit-life, also much pertaining to the earth-life, 
both of himself and of his deceased (so-called) friend; proving, 
beyond the shadow of a doubt, his identity. He expressed sin- 
cere regret that his family, especially his wife, had no knowledge 
of, or belief in, this beautiful spirit-communion. 

The conditions were not favorable for a long interview-. As I 
have stated, the medium was an entire stranger to me. He knew 
nothing of our place or people, or that a letter had been received ; 
nor was he conscious of a word that was said through him. I 
know not what will be your opinion of the communication ; but 
for myself, I am as confident that it came from the spirit-land, 
and from the party designated, as I am that your letter came from 
L , and was penned by your own hand. 

It does seem a long time since I left my native land. Shall I 
ever return thereto? God and his angels may know, but such 
knowledge is not for me ; no, not yet. Have I had a good time ? 
My times have been in thy hands, Lord, devoted to thy cause ; 
and I cherish a hope that, at some time or other, in some way or 
other, through thy ministering spirits, good will accrue therefrom. 

Did I say I was among those who understood me ? It may be ; 



408 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

yet I could not have meant my very self. I had reference then 
to the spiritual philosophy which is gradually, but surely, un- 
folding in our midst, and has become an established belief, not 
only in this household, but in many others. I can truthfully and 
with the most heart-felt gratitude, say, that since I came to dwell 
in this land, no opposing word has chilled the atmosphere ; no 
malicious eye shot forth the scorn the tongue refused to quite re- 
veal ; no blighting winds of calumny have pierced my soul, save 
those which blew from Northern climes. 

What you say of a " great deal of talk," etc., reminds me of a 
vision portraying the " Reception of Spiritualism," which I read, 
a short time ago, and will here insert. 

"I see a great city in the distance; a great, busy place. I see 
one man coming from that city. He looks old, yet is tall and 
erect, and his hair is gray. Under his arm he has a roll of paper. 
He is coming on some important business connected with this 
place. Some have gone out to meet him. To them he is unroll- 
ing his papers, and spreading them out before them. They have 
found something new there, and look incredulous. They shake 
their heads and turn away ; yet their attention is arrested. They 
crowd up and look at the papers. They read them, pass an opin- 
ion upon them, and turn away. He has shown them what they 
are, and now his part is done. He therefore turns back to that 
city, but he leaves the papers behind him. With his back toward 
me he walks slowly along, in deep meditation, and with his arms 
folded. He is alone, and no one notices him. They are too ear- 
nestly engaged looking at his papers. Now a great crowd has 
assembled around them, and it is very much excited by something 
wonderful they have found in them. 

Now they are passing them over their heads to their leaders, 
and spreading them before them, and asking their opinion. If 
they receive them favorably, the crowd are willing to, but they 
want their sentiments first. I see some old men with spectacles 
on, who are examining them. They go together in the corner of a 
large room, and pore over them. Some gather in groups and dis- 
cuss them ; some turn away impatiently, and walk up and down, 
gravely considering them. 

Now I see some of the priests come up to examine them. One 
of them has found something objectionable. He declaims against 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 409 

it, as unlawful. He says it will ruin the people ; it will not do to 
let the people get hold of such doctrines. He is very much excited. 

Now one of the priests is approaching, so puffed up with pride 
and self-conceit, he won't look at the papers, but turns away with 
a sneer. 

Now some learned men are examining them. They say, ' Show 
us the philosophy of this thing, give us the laws which govern it, 
let us know the science of it*' 

Now they have all got into a wrangle about it; they dispute, 
and all talk together. 

The crowd who first received it seem to have dropped it, and it 
is among the educated classes. They disagree about it ; some of 
them want to keep it among themselves, while the crowd are 
waiting their opinion ; and as soon as it is given they will con- 
sent, with some exceptions. 

Now the papers begin to look large. How they are spread out, 
and carried round, and commented on. Almost every one has a 
leaf or a copy. And spirits are standing by their side while they 
are reading them, though they cannot see them. 

There is very great excitement among the intellectual classes. 
They have all got hold of them. 

And now approaches again the man who brought the papers. 
Crowds of people are going to him. They think he must know 
all about it. Some are inquiring of him, some are abusing him, 
calling him all sorts of names. Some shake hands with him, and 
yet are afraid people shall see them do so. But they seem to 
think so much of him. Yet he wears the same calm expression 
of countenance to all. He tells them there are the papers, just 
as they were given to him, and it is not his fault if they differ 
from their opinions. They must judge for themselves. 

I see one man approaching him, who is very dark and repelling. 
He threatens him. He would annihilate him if he could, he talks 
so bitterly. Yet he sits calmly amidst it all. Close by him stands 
a majestic spirit, who sustains and strengthens him. That causes 
him to look so firm. He loses none of his dignity or self-respect 
by anything that dark one has said. He is neither awed nor 
overcome, but is sorrowful. I see the tear glisten in his eye as 
he turns away. 

The dark man is surrounded by a gloomy cloud. He has two 
or three others with him. He stands up higher than they; but 



410 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

they all feel the chilling influence of that dark cloud, hut not 
with such force and fury as it works on him. 

What a storm is raging around him who brought the papers ! 
There is such a dust and confusion around him that I can hardly 
see him. But he is not forsaken. There is something bright and 
shining right over him. The storm will not hurt him. He has 
six or seven people near him. How bad they feel ! They are 
crying, and I see him no more, while the storm rages with more 
violence than ever. 

But ah ! now I see him again. There he is, right in the light ! 
The storm has passed away, and he looks happy and pleased. He 
seems strong and young. Just see how beautiful everything is 
since the storm has gone ! How many green and beautiful things 
spring up all around him ! The air is clear and balmy. A great 
many old things have tumbled to ruins, and every thing has a 
renewed and youthful look. Those who were near him now look 
so rejoiced! The storm has damaged them some, too, but it 
has done them good. Their countenances look clearer and better. 
He has gone through a great deal, but he has become purer, and 
looks like an infant. He is so spiritual ! He is the image of a 
good man: serene, joyful, and happy. He was suffering in a good 
cause, and see what good has come of it." 

The following fragmentary portions of a letter I insert, simply 
because containing the first, and indeed the almost only, expressed 
(to me) disapprobation of aught relating to my conduct in con- 
nection with my present belief. I will add that the reply to the 
same purported to have been dictated by a spirit, a cherished 
friend both of the author of the letter, and myself. I felt sure of 
an invisible presence, and of supernal aid at the time, although 
I knew not from what source it came until several days afterward. 
As this was the first time I was said to have been impressed in my 
writing, I am equally anxious to preserve that, although I can only 
give a portion of each, the balance being of such a personal char- 
acter the parties would be in danger of being recognized. The 
writer's forebodings, as the contents of the letter indicate, were 
principally on a friend's account, whom we shall designate G. 

"DearE : 



" With trembling hand I seat myself to address you : 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 411 

trembling, for fear I may say something that I had better not. 
But I pray God that he will direct my pen, that I may not. I 
could a great deal easier sit down and cry myself sick than say 
what I am going to to you, if I did not feel that 1 had a duty to 
perform which I dare not shrink from. I do so hate to give you 
pain, that my hand almost refuses to do its office. I thought I could 
not meddle, until G. read his letter to me, from you, when I made 
up my mind it was time you knew upon what ground you were 
standing 

I must tell you, but pray God it may not harm you ; she said, 

that she and , both thought you were crazy. 0, that it should 

become necessary for me to write it ! 

0, how can you dare to interest G. in those things, after seeing 

the awful end of B , and to look back, and see how many of 

the family have been deranged. 0, it does seem to me, it ought 
to be a warning to us, not to bring up anything to excite even 
curiosity, for we all know how natural it is to him, to want to 
know all that is to be known. I want you to promise me, as one 
of the greatest favors that you could grant, that you will drop the 

subject entirely with G I feel that our old religion is 

good enough, and we shall be accepted if we strive to do every 
known duty. You surely can trust us in our heavenly Father's 
hands, who doeth all things well. 

I want to beg you once more, before I close, to grant my re- 
quest ; for if this thing should be brought into our home, I should 
tremble for the consequences. And another thing will obtrude 

itself upon my mind : L spoke of your having a good deal 

of gentlemen's company. 0, may we not have the sting of think- 
ing you are a free lover : above all things, let us think of you as 
pure. It seems to me it would be too much for us to think 
otherwise 

Upon looking over my letter I see I have not said quite all I 
want to about what Mrs. said, she went on to ex- 
press herself so strongly, and got so excited, that I feared to stay 
another minute, for fear it might bring harm in some way. 

And now, dear E , I have been very plain with you. I 

must say, if it will harm you any less, that / do not doubt your 
sincerity. But as you will have to answer at the bar of God, for 
harm that may come from what you may say, or write, I hope 
you will be careful. "We are too apt to be too sure that we are 



412 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

right, and the rest wrong. I do not wish to say anything, or 
hear anything upon the subject that has disturbed us so much, 
as we never should agree. I wish to drop it entirely." 

[reply.] 

Your letter was received last eve, and carefully perused, though 
not with tears of remorse; far from it. My first impulse was to 
take no notice of its contents ; but a more careful consideration, 
and a message from your own mother, saying, She means all 
right, have decided me upon a different course. Were it concern- 
ing myself alone, I could bear your reproaches in silence, for — 
In the Lord put I my trust — and He has enabled me to live 
above these petty annoyances. Yet I feel it is but just to the 
cause of the truth which I espouse, to express myself freely upon 
these subjects. And may the same God who has guided your 
pen, direct my thoughts, that I may be enabled to answer your 
every suggestion, in a truthful, and, as far as may be, satisfactory 
manner. 

You say you think it is time I knew upon what ground I am 
standing. I agree with you perfectly in this, and at the same 
time, thank my heavenly Father that he hath made my way so 
plain I cannot be mistaken 

As to the crazy part : I believe myself to be perfectly sane at 
the present time ; but how long I might remain so, were I to 
knowingly place myself in circumstances where my best thoughts 
and feelings were misinterpreted, the highest and purest aspira- 
tions of which my being is capable, crushed out and trampled 
upon, God only knows. It is evident to me that the suppression 
of the knowledge we crave, and which God has intended should 
be as free to all as the air we breathe, will do more to produce 
" insanity," than a careful and judicious study of the same. We 
are all created free moral agents, with a right to think, speak, 
and act, for ourselves. 

" As you will have to answer at the bar of God for harm that 
may come from what you may say or write, I hope you will be 
careful." Yes, I hope I shall ; and truly thankful am I that it is 
God's " bar," to which I shall have to answer, instead of the bar 
of human injustice and wrong. Again, you speak of the "old 
religion " being good enough for you. Now, friend, I do not be- 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 413 

lieve there is a being upon the face of the earth who has ever 
heard me speak ill of any religion, sect, or creed. I acknowledge 
the good in all, both inside and outside of the churches. And 
here it might be well to whisper a word in your ear, lest you 
should be caught unawares. This " new religion," as you term it, 
is slowly but surely creeping into the churches. Many leading 
members have already acknowledged their belief in spirit-com- 
munion, as have their pastors and teachers. Others, and cele- 
brated ministers, too, who draw crowds of worshippers, were 
convinced of these truths, years ago, although, from the lack of 
moral courage or some other reason best known to themselves, 
they do not come out before the world as Spiritualists. 

There is one other subject which I suppose you have felt it 
your duty to bring up, upon which I shall waste no time, further 
than to say, If my past, present, and future life speak not for 
itself in regard to its own " purity," words which I could utter 
would be of no avail. 

In regard to your conversation with Mrs. , it neither sur- 
prises nor alarms me ; if you enjoyed it, all right. Excuse me if 
I say it is the only subject which I ever knew you to think alike 
about, and the reason why you agree upon this is, because neither 
of you know, or care to know, "upon what ground you stand." 
I understand her feelings toward me much better than you can. 
That it would mortify her to have her friends know that the 
word " spiritualism " was even mentioned in her dwelling, is true. 
Why ? Because it is not popular. I blame her not, nor would I* 
willingly add a feather's weight to her unhappy frame of mind, 
the true cause of which is within her own being instead of ... . 
We have now both unburthened our minds, and I trust we shall 
" agree to disagree." I have said nothing but the truth, and if 
you are not pleased with it you have no one to blame but yourself, 
as I should never have said or written one word to you upon the 
subject had I not felt it "my duty" after receiving your letter. 
I shall endeavor to stand up for the truth and the right, now and 
ever, though by so doing I may lose the confidence of many dear 
earthly friends ; neither shall I sit down and cry over it ; much 
rather, if need be, 



" Forget the steps already trod, 
And onward urge thy way, 



414 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

'Tis God's all-animating voice 

That calls thee from on high, 
'T is his own hand presents the prize 

To thine uplifted eye." 

I see plainly the point you wish to gain is, in regard to my 
writing to G. (I will here state, that the subject was first intro- 
duced by him and not by me.) I assure you I shall not do so, unless 
he desires it, but if he is as much interested as I think, there are 
plenty of ways in which he can obtain the desired information, 
as you can scarcely take up a paper without finding something in 
regard to these subjects. They will not much longer be put 
down. The light will not always be hidden under a bushel. The 
very fact that G. " wants to know all that is to be known," shows 
that his mind, as well as his body requires food ; and there is 
just as much reason in starving the one as the other. 

One thing more, and I am done : A writes, that she tried 

to " smooth over matters " to you, in regard to my long absence. 
I am sorry she did so, as I hate intrigue; if the truth cannot be 
spoken, I prefer silence. 

I know this letter will give you pain, but I cannot help it, it 
had to be written ; but it has not been done from any ill feeling 
toward yourself or any one ; you have done what you thought 
right. Am glad you do not doubt my sincerity. 

I had thought my last personal extract was inserted ; but a let- 
ter came to-day which seems a little different in character from 
any contained herein, and brings the dear " little ones " so forcibly 
to my mind, that I cannot but hope that they will receive a bless- 
ing from the spirit-messengers of love. 

" Your letters are so * weighty ' that I have to read them over 
a good many times to settle them in my brain — then I can't re- 
member half. Seems to me you must study a great deal, certain- 
ly your writings indicate it. I do not see but what your argu- 
ments are pretty sound, and I must say that I agree with you in 
a good many things. Speaking of ' hell-fire' sermons, I suppose 
you agree that there is future punishment, for certainly if the 
scriptures teach anything they teach that, and it is compared to 
burning. I have never been taught that it was really fire, but 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 415 

anguish amounting to the same. There are lost spirits ; whether 
they are ever reclaimed, I don't know. You think they are, 
Christ came to save all who repent and believe. What a blessed 
thought it is, that, when we leave this world we can be born 
into a brighter, happier one. But if our happiness depends 
on our actions here, I do n't know where I shall be ; it seems as 
if I did not live one day through without getting out of patience 
with the children. Now if I prayed for a spirit of patience, as I 
ought, I suppose it would be granted, would n't it ? But I do n't, 
you see. The evil spirit is in me all the time ; only once in a 
while I seem to be peacef nl and happy, and yet I have everything, 
almost, to make me good in this world. I tell you, it needs a 

wise head to govern children as they should be. L is a 

good girl, but she is so full of frolic, and so forgetful and 
careless. We have real nice times together, but I do get out of 
patience with her so often." 

My letter, dear friend, would soon settle down 
In that brain of thine, if only poor me 
Dictated the same. If "half" you remember 
'Tis more than do I, for it comes and goes, 
As a breeze passing by, tarrying not. 
Me study ! No, indeed, not I. What's that? 
My arguments sound ! All right if they are, 
But "faith and I fear they 're niver a bit mine." 
And what of hell-fire ? But I must sober down 
Or they '11 think me worse than I really am. 
No. Seldom, thank God ! is this doctrine now 
Proclaimed abroad. Future punishment?" Yes, 
Each deed and each thought its penalty brings ; 
It may be to-day, it may be next year ; 
It may be when slumbers our form in the 
Tomb ; but this do we know. 'T will ne'er be less, 
Nor can it be more than, the deed or thought 
Injustice demands. The anguish of mind — 
Which punishment is — accords to the same. 
But this is not all. Whate'er we have done 
That may have produced an evil effect, 



416 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

We must strive to undo — or the evil 

Eepair. Until we do this, we are bound 

As with cords, to things of the past, 

And can not imbibe the pure joys of heaven, 

Or in the scale of progression ascend. 

Our Saviour himself, much less his blood, can 

Not expiate sin. By example pure, 

And precepts divine, he taught us the way, 

Which way, if we tread, leads upward to Grod. 

With what measure we mete, that measure withal 

Comes back in return. 

Aye, blessed indeed 
Is the thought of our birth to a brighter 
And happier world. Believe me, dear child, 
You are growing each day more patient and 
Gentle with your own darling ones. Thou hast 
In thy keeping, it is true, tender buds, 
But be not faint-hearted, for wisdom shall 
Unto thee be given. Thy guileless heart 
Is open and free ; no cherished sins are 
Found rankling there. When we know our own faults 
The battle 's half won ; and victory sure 
Will crown with success thy beautiful life. 
Not the breath of a prayer from thy soul goes 
Forth, but brings in return sweet echoes of 
Love. In affections kind thy heart is rich, 
Thy maternal love devoted, as strong. 
Thy dear little claimants, so innocent, 
A firm, yet love-tempered course demand. 
Their questions, we see, you answer kindly ; 
'T is well. Eetain in thy keeping their sweet 
Confidence, tender, unchained, and free; 'twill 
Happiness render to both them and thee ; 
For they 11 love thee more , reverence no less : 
M True love may cast out fear, but not respect, 
That fears the very shadow of offense." 
Then strive thee truly, thy children to teach 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 417 

The duties, we all humanity owe 

In charities tender. Teach them, also, 

To feel and cherish, while their pulses beat, 

Mercy and kindness for all living things. 

Thy darlings are fair — surpassingly so, 

Then make thou the inner temple compare ; 

What now is lovely, may, by true culture, 

Still more so become in its prime. May their 

Young and tender minds expand in beauty — 

And may they become living ensamples 

Of holiness and purity, loving 

And serving Him whose heart is pity's throne, 

And whose mandates wound not except to heal. 

Farewell, precious mother ; sweet babes, Farewell. 

Yes, friends, farewell is the word. I thought to have said it 
long before, but could not. I suppose it would not be considered 
"proper" for one whom the world recognizes as the author of a 
work, to pass judgment on the same. But I trust you will par- 
don me for here saying : I had no intimation of the character of 
its contents in advance. The criticisms on my former work, 
which are inserted in this, were all spontaneous productions. I 
have solicited none except from two persons (with a view to ad- 
vertising the book) neither of which have seen fit to respond. 
All that have come to me are here made public, and without 
abridgment save in some three or four cases in avoidance of repe- 
tition. 

I have in store a few choice titbits from the perusers of said 
volume, some of which came to me personally, others indirectly. 

One person thinks the book may be of some use to " begin- 
ners " in the spiritual philosophy. Another : It is so " advanced " 
they cannot comprehend it. The reading of it exerts a soothing 
influence over one, and puts him to sleep. " How can that be ? " 
says his neighbor; "I cannot sleep at all if I read it." A friend 
has read it through once, and is reading it again ; likes to have it 
where she can u catch it up." Another, who evidently likes pop* 
ularity better than she does the book, says, " It is n't fit to be in 
anybody's house." One respectable gentleman purchased and 



418 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

read the "book, then offered it for sale at fifty cents. About the 
same time, another gentleman took one on trust, and a few days 
afterward, brought me five times that amount, insisting that it 
was worth that to him. A certain individual thinks the writings 
indicate an unhappy frame of mind. Another, in conversing 
with me, says, " I would give anything in the world to feel as I 
imagine you do, from your writings." One, who had the book in 
her possession, lent it to a neighbor who said it was the best book 
she had ever read on that subject. We hear of another who act- 
ually burned the book because (he said) so many wanted to bor- 
row it ; and he, not endorsing its teachings, felt unwilling to lend 
it. If this be the true reason, we honor and respect that man for 
acting in accordance with his own convictions of duty. 

Of course the book remains unchanged, notwithstanding the 
diverse opinions. It has certainly been serviceable in one way, to 
those, at least, who chose to make it so — serving as a mirror in 
which they might " see themselves as others see them." For as 
"the moral and intellectual status of man is grounded in the ma- 
terial," so is it reproduced in the every-day occurrences of life by 
whatever we come in contact with. Each person we meet, each 
book we read, is but a reflection of our own mind. If we see in 
our friends nothing to love and admire, it is sure evidence that 
something is wrong with ourselves ; and vice versa. There can 
be no better criterion to judge people by, than the judgment 
which they pass upon others. 

I expect, after all, I have heard but a small tithe of what has been 
said in regard to the book " Misunderstood," yet I have no scru- 
ples in saying, It has been enough to establish in my mind, be- 
yond the shadow of a doubt, two facts concerning it. First : It 
must possess some merit, as well as demerit, to call forth even 
the amount of criticism which has come to my knowledge. Sec- 
ondly : notwithstanding all its faults and foibles — and I know 
there are many such — It is rightly named. 

All unpopular authors have my sincere and heart-felt sympa- 
thy, and I would suggest that we make use of the philosophers 
(Apollonius) prayer ; substituting friends for "things." " ye 
gods ! grant me to have few things, and to stand in need of none." 
The first part of it is sure to come true ; the last may, sometime. 
With all of our " eccentricities," " hallucinations," " transcenden- 
talisms," etc., we have this to console us — we are sure to escape 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 419 

the " "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you ! for so 
did their fathers to the false prophets." 

There is one thing I came near forgetting to mention, which 
seems to me a little remarkable, and augurs well for the cause. 
Not a person who has written to me upon the subject has ex- 
pressed a disbelief in, and I think not a doubt concerning, the 
truth of spirit-communion. I rejoice in this, most firmly believ- 
ing that spiritualism will eventually be the religion of the world, 
gathering all that is good from all religions. "It will also be the 
conservatory of science ; for all truth centres in God." 0, then, 
dear friends, will ye not help to rear and culture the flowers of 
angelic wisdom, which shall bloom for thee in the bright sum- 
mer-land, where life, in its freedom, is a "poem from the finger's 
ends," and where all things are formed anew ? 



The winter's dreary days have gang agla, 

Spring verdure and sweet flowers succeed 

The seeming barrenness of hill and dale ; 

Only seeming, thank God ! The germ of the 

Soil dies not ; it needs but the genial breath 

Of the sun's life-giving warmth and light to , 

Resurrect itself in unsurpassing 

Loveliness, fresher, purer, for its season 

Of tranquil repose. So truth, when crushed, shall 

Rise again. Howe'er so deep in error's 

Debris hid, it forth shall spring, untarnished 

By tradition's fast-receding wave, whose 

Overwhelming power must soon give place to 

Rising wave of Freedom's noble birth, whose 

Fruits are liberty of thought, speech, and life, 

Combined with equal justice to our race. 

O progress eternal ! how beautiful 

The thought ! Angelic voice of love and truth, 

Roll on, and with majestic sway, higher 

And yet higher in the scale of holiness 

And purity, lead thine adoring worshippers ! 

Within the soul of each a germ of worth, 



420 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Which only needs the vitalizing force 

Of truth, hallowed by principles of love 

Divine, to fruitage bear of heavenly peace. 

Waters from out the living well of hope 

Their strength and beauty shall increase, till they 

Become like gardens fair, in midst of which 

Shall ever-blooming trees of knowledge their seeds 

Of perfected wisdom disseminate. 

Yea, fowls of the air shall gather the same, 

And scatter abroad o'er hill-top and plain, 

Through valley and mead, till every clime 

Some few have received. Which seed will bring forth 

Trees after their kind. And what is their kind ? 

What indeed but knowledge, and knowledge is 

Liberty ; and liberty is — " The soul's 

Right to breathe," untrammeled by sectarian 

Creed, cringing before no cowled priests whose 

Symbols dire harass unconscious ignorance. 

The "Tree of Life" not only spread its branches 

Wide, a shelter from impending storms ; it 

Also did disseminate the growing 

Germs of millions more, which have, in strength, 

Become like to the cedars of Lebanon, 

And "whose leaves shall be for the healing of 

The nations." . Healing them from what, ask ye ? 

Centuries and centuries ago 't was said : 

" The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not 
eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
die." 

This command and threatened annihilation purported to have 
come from the Lord God himself, " with whom is no variableness, 
neither shadow of turning." 

And what said the serpent, who is called the Devil, and the 
father of lies ? " Ye shall not surely die : for God doth know 
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and 
ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 421 

Here we have direct opposition at the very outset of man's 
proclaimed creation. These contradictory texts emanate from 
two spiritual beings whom the sacred writer — may God forgive 
his ignorance ! — styles the God and the serpant. A reflective 
mind which ponders these things cannot fail to perceive the in- 
consistency of their teachings, and the question will arise, Which 
of these spirits, if either, was the veritable Lord God ? Of 
course there can be but one answer. The one that told the truth. 
And which did tell the truth ? The same writer, in the same 
chapter, informs us that 

" The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, 
to know good and evil ; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and 
take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever : 

Therefore the Lord sent him forth from the garden of Eden, 
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the 
man." 

This opens up the way for more questions : Did the serpent 
deceive Eve — if there was an Eve ? 

All things came to pass as he predicted. 

And if there was an Adam — did Adam die ? 

He could not have died a physical death, and afterwards have 
tilled the ground. 

Even old orthodoxy, if we are rightly informed, does not admit 
of a spiritual death. 

Then, again, with some the question will arise, "Where, and in 
what condition would our race have been to-day, if poor deluded 
Eve had not eaten the apple ? 

Alas ! we have no response ; for to us, this wonderful narrative, 
sadly perverted though it is, was but the forerunner of scores 
of divine symbols far excelling it in beauty and wisdom ; and 
which, at the present day, might be counted by the millions. 

The fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, have been 
widely scattered over the earth, and are still fulfilling their des- 
tiny, by shaking the very foundations of the old heavens and 
earth. 

Most truly did the spirit say, " In sorrow shalt thou eat of it 
all the days of thy life ; (on earth) thorns also and thistles shall 
it bring forth to thee." 

All who have progressed intellectually and spiritually above 
the ordinary mind and masses of the people, can, from sad ex- 



422 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

perience, testify to the truth of this prediction. The gospel of 
truth has been sustained only through individual personal " sacri- 
fice of selfishness, and an expansion in the elements of universal 
love and true philanthropy." The beautiful and true, from time 
immemorial, have consecrated their lives and labors to bring about 
a plan of true harmonial development for humanity. The stand- 
ard of truth has been raised higher by each well-directed advance 
of self-sacrificing devotion and exemplified act of self-denial. 
There must be an Order above and in advance of the world, to 
govern and regulate it. These must be such as "prefer duty to 
diversion. He who is false to present duty, breaks a thread in 
the loom, and will find the flaws when he has forgotten the 
cause." 

" God's work remains the same, and will endure through eter- 
nal ages. Human nature is everywhere the same. In all ages it 
has had the same wants and aspirations, and has been subject to 
the same infirmities. The present condition of society is no 
cause of discouragement. The future cannot be determined by 
the present. Like life, society grows from a principle divinely 
implanted ; it is progressing, bringing the world and its attrac- 
tions to an ultimate." 

There are noble minds to-day, endowed with power and an un- 
derstanding of truth, who are educating souls to become practical 
pioneers in the glorious spiritual reformation, between which and 
conservatism the spirit of divine wisdom stands as a balance, lev- 
elling all distinctions save goodness, transforming the drudgery of 
life into pleasant occupation by equalizing labor, maintaining the 
strongholds of virtue by elevating the human race according to 
to the inspired revelations of the angelic host. For " what edu- 
cation is for one man or woman, revelation is for the whole hu- 
man race." Yea, for all, regardless of sect or sex. "Woman shall 
no longer be excluded from her right to aid in purifying and sus- 
taining a rational system of morality and spiritual development, 
for she is of more worth than to be a mere instrument of worldly 
pleasure. "We see in our Zion-home women of strength and 
virtue, whose consecrated powers adorn and beautify the temple 
of God." Yea, they receive and diffuse the divine esse of love 
which permeates all mind and matter, and establishes upon earth, 
" a true type of angelhood in the spheres." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 423 

O thou Spirit of Truth ! ascend with us 

More lofty altitudes of light divine ; 

Whose ideal beckons, yea, with silv'ry voice 

Calls, "Come up higher, above, away from earth I* 

The pathway seems wondrously new and strange, 

Paved with eternal rocks of holy thought, 

Containing essences of subtile power 

To penetrate and vivify the daring 

Soul which mounts and soars through changing vistas 

Of delight, fresh draughts of wisdom to secure. 

'T is holy ground, on which we tread with rapid 

Strides ; the winding path mysterious gives 

Birth to marvels unrevealed ; celestial 

Wonders a living panorama seem. 

The River of Knowledge we pass, and plunge 

In its pearly stream, emerging forth with 

A deeper joy, and with gems of bright truth 

From the beautiful wave of harmonic life. 

O thou sinless spirit of purity ! 

When shall we reach the Eureka of bliss 

Where blooms the tree of life eternal, whose 

Way by cherubims aud seraphims is 

Guarded ? Onward we roam, upward we soar, 

Yet the same deep whisper from our 

Soul goes forth : "I hunger, hunger still !" 

We know we are but the breath of a thought — 

Faint echo of life ; But O ! we would ask 

For the keys to unlock the God-like powers 

Of the spirit within ; bright glimpses of 

Which stir the depths of the soul, but quench not 

Its thirst. O ! that the music of the sinless 

Angel might flow into our enraptured ears, 

Filling us with a mighty impulse to 

Upraise and beautify, purify and 

Ennoble, earth's weeping sons aud daughters, 

Leading them in the flower-fringed paths of love 

Upon which shines the Sun of pure Wisdom. 



424 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

O thou Source of Life and Light ! bend thine ear ; 
Let Perseverance be our motto brave, 
Humility the garment which we wear ; 
Be Faith the guiding-star, and hope the light 
Which lures us on. Then on the staff of strength 
We 11 lean, while prayer shall fill our souls with bread. 
Until we safely reach thy kingdom Lord — 
Celestial Heaven. 



Finis. 



AN INVOCATION. 



Fatheb in heaven! we adore thy glorious name; we look to 
thee for help in time of need ; we feel how weak and incapable 
we are of fulfilling thy laws : the " spirit indeed is willing, but 
the flesh is weak." Wilt thou, holy and ever-blessed Father 
of Love, strengthen us, and enable each one of us to bear life's 
burdens ? May every desire of our hearts be pure and holy, and 
may we extend to each other and to all of humanity that sympa- 
thy and love which shall help us to realize that we are all thy 
children, and that our souls are immortal. Help us, Father, 
to know and to be true unto ourselves, thus fulfilling the holy 
purpose of our being; for if we are true to ourselves we shall be 
true unto others as well : and may we ever strive to follow the 
example of Him who did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
mouth. Amen. 



[425] 



Gather the B 



ATHER THE TDEAUTIFUL, 



AND 



o^a^ fo^ytg. 



[427] 



GATHER THE BEAUTIFUL. 



My friends, loved ones, draw near, I pray, and learn 

A lesson from the honey-bee : 
Mark how he only doth extract the sweet, 
For that alone from grain or flower is meet 

To gather home and stow away. 

The flowers from which he stole the sweet, remain 

Fresh, pure and bright ; the passer-by 
Might pluck the same and fail to know or miss 
The sweetness gathered by the honey-bee's kiss. 
O lovely flower ! that we might be 

Like unto thee, so pure we could not hide 

One sinful thought, one evil deed ; 
That we might bear the noon-day sun, and feel 
We have within a friendly heart toward all, 

With sympathy for those in need. 

Many, say M the world is beautiful ! " Why ? 

Because within their own bright souls 
'Tis so reflected ; because, such an one 
Hath learned to gather the beautiful alone, 

Pass by earth's lucre and seek its pearls ; 

Yea, pearls of wisdom, pearls of truth most rare. 

And why so rare ? Is it because 
We have no just conception of the same ? 
Nay, nay, my friend, that cannot be ; I blame 

Thee not, and yet, I pray thee pause ; — 
[429] 



430 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Hast thou e'er lived according to what thou 

Didst at the time perceive to be 
The best and highest course thou mightst pursue ? 
Hast kept thy noblest attributes in view ? 

Thy baser passions kept at bay ? 

If so, my friend, thou hast, like one of old, 
" Chosen the better part," and hast 

Entered already the valley of blessing ; 

Hast drank from the fount so cool and refreshing, 
And had a sweet taste of heaven's repast. 

Thou hast gathered, indeed, the most beautiful ; 

O, cherish and keep it alway ! 
Add treasures thereto, increasing the same ; 
Seek not for riches or for worldly fame ; 

They both, like the dew, will pass away. 

Seek, rather, the pure, the good, and the true, 

Nor deem them hard on earth to find, 
For I tell you, friend, by a God-given law 
We all do possess a heaven-born ray 
Of celestial light, though dimmed, 

It may be, by the casket rough it wears. 

O, crush not, then, this gem so fair, 
Nor smother with corroding care this fire, 
But add fresh fuel to the same ; then higher, 

Brighter its flames shall rise, and bear 

Sweet incense to its maker, God ; then, too, 

Pure angels, from the sphere of light, 
Shall, on the wings of love, descend to earth, 
And gather up the beautiful, the truth, — 
That truth with heavenly radiance bright. 

In all thy intercourse with man, if thou 
Wouldst seek to find within his soul 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 431 

The nobler virtues of the mind and heart, 
Wouldst, all unconsciously to him, impart 
Desires which would his bosom fill 

With earnest zeal to rise above frail self, 

To mingle with the great and good, — 
O, then, my friend, thou wouldst thyself from him 
Gather the beautiful, while he the same 

From thee would cull, both would be fed. 

'Tis ever thus, our great Exemplar said : 

More blest are they who freely give 
Than those who only do receive ; 'tis sure, 
We know ; yea, every word of God is pure, 

Then near to Him O, let us live ! 

"As in water face answereth to face, 

So the heart of man to man." 
Then pray, let your face no image produce 
Which might lead souls astray — induce 

Men to think your heart could be vain ; 

For as "love is the guiding star to love, 

And soul must speak to soul," so we 
Our sacred affections must keep in view, 
Rememb'ring, all " who learn to love aright 

Do pass from darkness into light." 

Methinks I hear some dear one ask the way 

To love aright ! The golden rule 
Comes to our mind : if we our neighbor as 
Ourselves do love, 'tis enough; no danger 

Of loving too much or too well. 

Let Charity, so sweet and mild, e'er find 

A home within thy gentle breast, — 
Charity, which is the bond of perfection ; 
Also, the hidden manna to our race, 

Without which we have nought to boast. 



432 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Behold the sky now radiant and fair ! 

Bright, fleecy clouds are flitting by, 
And far away the crimson glow so deep, 
Its lustre sheds, while golden hues do leap 

Beyond the same. Beautiful sky ! 

The scene is changed — the sky so bright and fair 

Is hidden from our sight by clouds 
Dark and dismal ; no sunshine now to guide 
The trav'ler on his weary way ; instead, 

Gathering darkness him enshrouds : 

We would compare this changeful sky with man ; 

At times his course seems bright and fair ; 
He scatters sunshine as he goes ; no one, 
However poor and mean, doth seek in vain 

His tender love and friendly care. 

Then comes a day when sorrows deep intrude ; 

His tranquil soul is clouded o'er 
By afflictions keen ; wild emotions now 
His bosom thrill ; his pulse's beat is slow, 

His very life a burden sore. 

How dost thou, then, interpret this ? my friend, 

Dost thou in darkness still revel ? 
Or dost, like patient Job, exclaim instead, 
Shall we receive good at the hand of God, 

And shall we not receive evil ? 

Again, shall we because of these same clouas 

Declare that sunshine is a fraud, 
A vain delusion which will nevermore 
With its golden beams heaven's pure light restore ? 

Nay, nay, not so, my unknown friend ; — 

But, like the bright celestial orb, abide 
Until the clouds be scattered all ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 433 

Then trace with him the bright and fair, unmixt 
With dreary clouds of gloom which come betwixt : 
Gather alone the beautiful, — 

And scatter the same. There are treasures rich 

Buried deep in thy heart so warm ; 
O, bring them all forth ; polish them brightly ; 
Then give from your store, esteeming not lightly 

Thy God-given talents sublime. 

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall 

Be, saith the preacher, David's son ; 
And that whieh is done, is that which shall be done : 
And there is no new thing under the sun. 

Canst thou sense it ? The rivers run 

Into the sea, yet the sea is not full. 

K The thing that hath been." How is this ? 
Listen. Thy mother has a rose ; single 
Its leaves, and small the flower ; it doth mingle 

Sweet fragrance with the breeze ; it is, 

Yes, it is a rose ; Is it beautiful? 

Nay. You may possess a cultured rose ; 
Compare the two : just look ! thine doth unfold 
A score of leaves to one of hers ; behold ! 

Thine, too, is more than twice its size. 

A stranger comes and views the two, — one who 

Has never seen before a cultured rose ; 
If guided by her own instinct alone, 
Would she not say, " These flowers are not the same " ? 

Aye, truly too, we may suppose, 

And yet they both do bear the name of Kose. 

The friend is right, and, too, is wrong ; 
She 's not to blame, and speaks what is 
To her the truth ; condemn her not for this, 

But lead her forth the flowers among ; 



434 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Explain to her the means employed to change 

The single to the double flower. 
Now thus would we the preacher's words explain ; 
For if there 's no new thing under the sun, 

There's surely undeveloped power. 

The past and present have done — are doing, much 

To rear the structure and prepare 
For what shall be in ages yet to come ; 
And as the wheels of time roll on, Reform 

Shall be the watchword and the tower. 

Long ages yet, may come and go before 

His early purpose is fulfilled ; 
Also, the rivers run into the sea 
Cycles of years, ere they it overflow ; 

The powers that be have thus decreed, 

And to every thing there is a season, 

And a time to every purpose 
Under the heaven ! He hath made every thing 
Beautiful in his time. Again, "he hath 

Set the world in their heart : " If true, 

For what? that man might have a work to do, 

An aim in life, a purpose to 
Fulfil? ask your own hearts. In much wisdom 
Is much grief; yet wisdom excelleth folly 

As far as light excelleth darkness. 

And wisdom also is better than strength ; 

Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom 
Is despised, and his words are not heard. 
The days shall come when worth, not wealth, shall guide 

The human mind, and trace therefrom 

True wisdom from a higher source : we shall know 
That whatsoever God doeth 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 435 

It shall be forever. Hast thou, my friend, 
An erring brother? strive, I pray, to lend 
Thine aid to lead from danger's path ; — 

" A word fitly spoken is like apples 

Of gold in pictures of silver." 
Notwithstanding this, beloved, there 's a 
Time to keep silence, and a time to speak, 

If thou thy brother wouldst deliver. 

O, show thyself friendly and kind to all,— 

Let love alone reign in thy heart ; 
For a bird of the air shall carry the voice. 
And that which hath wings shall tell the matter, — 

Thy life become a living chart : 

n Or ever the silver cord be loosed, 

Or the golden bowl be broken : " 
O, then shalt thou gather at the river, 
The pure, the bright, the beautiful ever ; 

God's love shall be of this a token. 

Kemember, a friend loveth at all times ; 

Let thy garments be always white ; 
O, gather and scatter the beautiful, 
Thine own cup of joy will then be full 

In summer's day and winter's night. 

There's beauty all around, below, above, 

" And the Soul of the Beautiful 
Is, the Divine, — the beauty which unites the 
Human to the divine is love, and love 

Is the longing of the soul for love. 



436 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



DRIFTING. 



I 'm drifting now, I have no home, 
No place that I can call my own ! 

I Ve left for aye my cherished room, 
Within whose walls angels came down. 

Angels so kind, so pure, so bright : 
Why, ye loved ones, O, tell me why 

Dark clouds surround? Is there no light - 
No beams of love to cheer the way, — 

Must I go forth a wanderer 
Upon the troubled sea of life, 

Remote from all whom I hold dear, — 
My weary soul know nought but strife ? 

Is there no home on earth for me, 

And yet must I abide below 
And crush this longing to be free, 

Bearing this weary weight of woe ? 

My spirit longs to be at rest, 

To meet those loved ones, O, so dear ! 
To dwell for ever with the blest, 

Nor stem the tide so dark, so drear : 

I know that thou, my angel-guide, 
Dost say my work is not complete ; 

I must still longer here abide, 

Though bitter mingle with the sweet ; — 

Must, for the sake of those I love, 
Endure the cross, despise the shame, 

Give forth the truth which those above 
Reveal to me in God's dear name. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 437 

Then hush, my soul, this inward grief; 

Shrink not from duty's call, I pray ; 
Though fierce and angry be the strife, 

Thy night shall end in glorious day. 

Wilt thou, my precious angel-guide, 

Direct my mind and heart aright ? 
Help me to rise above the tide 

Of selfish thought, and by thy might 

Unfold the gift God hath bestowed ; 

Point out the work, show me the way, 
Make me an instrument for good 

Toward all humanity, I pray ! 

I 'm waiting now, — must it be long? 

I want to do, and not to dream; 
Wilt thou help me ? and is it wrong 

To wish to 5e, and not to seem? 



THE ANGEL'S EEPLY. 

We heard thy prayer of yesternight ; 

We see thy weary, restless soul 
So longing for a home of light 

Where sin's dark waves no more control. 

We know thy pure and gentle breast 
Sighs for the dear ones gone before ; 

There seems for thee no place of rest, 
No home upon thine earthly shore. 



438 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Just now, we see the storm is raging 
In wild, tempestuous, angry mood, 

While cold bleak, winds, round thee sweeping, 
Seem drifting thee from shoal to shoal. 

But, sister dear, it won't be long ; 

The clouds so dark will soon disperse ; 
Thou hast not done, but suffered, wrong, — 

For others borne the heavy cross. 

Have patience, then, calmly abide, 
Look not upon the past as lost, 

Though fearfully misunderstood 

By those you love the most and best. 

A change will come, a happy change 
For them and you ; yes, by and by 

Their thoughts will take a wider range, 
Upheld by angels from on high. 

Thy work, indeed, is not yet done ; 

If 't were we would have told thee so ; 
We would have sent thy dearest one 

To lead thee to thy home on high. 

Thy words and deeds of love and light 
Have here prepared for thee a home, 

Yes, beautiful, radiant, bright : 

We can but show thee, now, one room : 

Its atmosphere is pure and sweet, 
Fresh flowers are blooming ever here 

Here music soft, here music sweet 

Ascends from thine own earthly sphere. 

*T is here that we, thine angel band, 
Unite our forces thee to aid ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 439 

We love thee, sister, and we stand 
As sentinels thy soul to guard 

From ills which thou, as mortal, still 

Art subject to ; nor is this all : 
We do thy mind and brain control ; 

We write our image on thy soul. 

Then fear thou not, for this we say, 

Thou wilt not, cannot, far go wrong, 
For we shall lead thee all the way, 

Yea, we will help thee to grow strong. 

Canst thou not trust us, sister dear? 

Forgettest thou the wondrous truths 
We made to thee seem bright and clear ? 

Told we not thee thy future course 

While at the time thy doubting heart 
Could not discern — could not believe ? 

Have we not proved beyond a doubt 
The same, — also, that we still live ? 

Then trust us, precious child of earth; 

We still will guard, we still will guide, 
Help thee to live and teach the truth, 

So long as thou on earth abide. 



440 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



MOTHER IN ISRAEL. 

Have you seen her? do you know her? 
And what they tel? us — is it true, 
Concerning her whom they do call 
The mother dear in Israel ? 

" We have seen her and we know her ; 
We will gladly send thee to her ; 
Though much there is which we might tell, 
No ' hearsay ' satisfies as well." 

Can she tell me of my mother, 
Who from earth-life passed up hither 
Ere I had learned to know and love her ? 
Loves she still her darling daughter ? 

w It is not she who hath the power 
To tell of loved ones gone before ; 
But if thy loved ones her control, 
These same, indeed, can tell thee all." 

I Ve heard that she did ofttimes see 
Bright scenes above, and spirits, too, 
How beautiful ! I would that I 
Could look beyond the bright blue sky. 

" They call this phase clairvoyant sight, 
Or spirit-vision, pure and bright ; 
It must, indeed, sweet joy impart 
To visit these, of heaven a part." 

A good developer, as well, 
She is, at least they so me tell ; 
Hath she for you the future told, 
Or helped your powers to unfold ? 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 441 

" She has indeed some things foretold ; 
More precious in my sight than gold 
Is all the loving care which she 
So kindly hath bestowed on me." 

She is, I 'm told, kind to the poor, 
And never sends them from her door, 
But gives them " sittings" all the same, 
While they in turn do bless her name. 

w Quite right, my friend, full many come 
Without money and without price ; 
Her heart goes out in sympathy, 
Nor does she work alone for pay." 

I hope she has laid up in store 
A good supply ; if to the poor 
She is so liberal and kind, 
She must possess a noble mind. 

" I grieve to say her earthly stores 
Are not abundant ; the reverse 
Would be nearer ; her daily bread 
Is sure to come, then all is said." 

If not on earth, then sure in heaven 
Her deeds of love have all been written ; 
She will receive a just reward 
And dwell forever with the good. 

" Yes, if the seed she here hath sown 
Doth yield its fruit, she there will own 
Treasures untold which perish not, — 
They all have been too dearly bought," 

My thanks, kind friend, for what you say, — 
I 'U go to her this very day ; 



442 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I feel quite sure that something bright 
Will come to me, my heart's so light. 

* I trust there will ; a truer friend 
Than she. to me I'll never find ; 
The name she bears doth suit her well • 
A Mother kind in Israel." 



A FKIEND IN AFFLICTION. 

How sad the voice which whispers in our ears 
When earth is hushed in calm repose ; 

These hours recall the friends of former years, 
Now passed f beyond this vale of woes. 

Come near, thou precious, loving ones, to-night 

My heart is sad — I know not why, 
Thy presence can make it the home of light — 

Without thine aid I dare not try 

These sad forebodings to repress ; alas ! 

They seem to cast a shadow drear 
Around my pathway, deep, dark, fathomless ; 

I pry' thee, friends, come very near — 

And fold me in thy warm embrace once more, 
Whisper low, sweet words of comfort ; 

O, let me feel and know that loved ones near 
Do all my secret soul interpret 1 

O, what is life with all my dear ones gone before? 

Must I, can I smother this grief, 
This inward dearth, and sorrow meekly bear ? 

O Father, may my stay be brief 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 443 

Within this dark and lonely vale of tears ! 

O, send to me speedy relief 
And help to banish all my worldly fears ; 

My heart fix thou upon thyself. 

Friend, hearest thou mine agonizing cry? 

Hast thou no pity in thine heart ? 
Forgettest thou the days agone, when I 

Did share with thee the cruel smart 

Of sad injustice done to thee and thine ? 

Alas ! I now alone must bear 
That grief for which thou didst thy life resign ; 

No loving one have I to share 

This weary weight of woe — this burden sore ; 

My heart is drear and desolate, 
No gleam of light within my soul so bare : 

Come thou, before it is too late, 

Help, O, help my weak endeavor ! give rest 

Unto thy weary child once more ; 
Give strength, give patience, till I upon thy breast 

Can lay me down for evermore. 

m O, let the dead and the beautiful rest !" 

How can they rest when they behold 
Their darling ones with sorrows deep oppressed, 

And they unable to enfold 

Them in their loving, fond embrace so sweet, 

So soul-refreshing, and so dear ? 
R Hush I my child, thy sad repining is not meet ; 

Thou still art blessed with friends to cheer 

Thy pilgrimage. Awake ! put on thy strength, 
Put all thy beauteous garments on ; 



444 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Garments of purity and peace, at length 
Thy righteous labors all shall crown ; 

Dwell not upon thy trials sore, live thou 

Above the same ; ride over them : 
Our kindly aid most gladly we '11 bestow, 

And help thee to life's current stem. 

Look not behind ! upward, heavenward thy course ! 

If thou wouldst have our sustenance, 
Reach forth thine hand ; no longer let remorse 

Thy noblest powers of mind enhance ! 

'Out of the darkness ! into the light !' and 
Blessing will then attend thee ever ; 

Thy soul become so wondrously bright, that 
Sorrows shall darken never, O, never l. w 



CHRISTMAS. 



'T is Christmas Eve ! and I am, where ? 
Far from my home : I cannot share 
With those I love, the festive mirth 
This season brings to all the earth, — 

I shall not hear the voices sweet, 

Which have been wont mine ears to greet 

Before the rising of the sun, 

On holy, happy Christmas morn ; — 

I shall not see the stockings nine 
Hang from the mantle in a line, 
Commencing with the Papa's tall 
Down to the smallest one of all;— 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 445 

I shall not place my little mite 
Within each one this Christmas night ; 
I have no work to finish up : 
I wonder if, whem I 'm asleep 

I'll dream of home, so far away, 
And see the little ones at play ; 
Eeceive from each a greeting kind, 
And feel their arms about me twined ! 

I wonder if they '11 miss me there, 
And say, I wish that she were here — 
I hope a letter I '11 receive 
From them to-morrow, or this eve ; — 

To-day a Christmas package came, 
Reminding of that pleasant home ; 
It did contain two pairs of hose, — 
So now I '11 have no more bare toes. 

Although, the weather is so warm, 
I doubt if it could do me harm ; 
It seems more like to mild September, 
Than the wintry month December. 

My hostess has this day * done made " 
Such lots of pies, and cake beside ; 
The turkey too, is "mighty fine ; " 
To-morrow we "right well" will dine. 

Not that it is a thing uncommon 
To have a turkey, in this region, 
For here these birds are far more plenty 
Than fair young girls — under thirty. 

Geese and chickens, ducks included, 
Here unwittingly are murdered ; 



446 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

We have them daily for our dinner : 
Methinks the flocks will soon get thinner. 

'T is Christmas morn ! I did not dream 
Of Santa Claus, nor of my home — 
As I was hoping that I might — 
But had, instead, a fearful fright. 

Some one, I thought, came to my door, 
Then softly walked across the floor ; 
Came to my bed with arms outstretched, 
And at the clothes about me clutched : 

'T was such an ugly, frightful dream ! 
At first I could not move or scream ; 
A mighty effort I did make 
To call for help, and thus awoke ; — 

No one I saw, 't was very dark, 
But O, the dogs, how they did bark ! 
I know not yet what was the matter, 
Or why they made such fearful clatter. 

The day, so fair, has come and gone,—: 
'T is eve, and here I sit alone ; 
I went to church this morn, and heard 
Sweet counsel from God's holy word. 

The text was this : " Our Religion ; " 
And all who do it make their own, 
Have nought to fear on this side heaven, 
And surely not, in God's pure Eden. 

The music sweet was soul-enchanting ; 
No power or harmony was lacking ; 
I think the angel-choirs above 
Must sure have lent their aid, in love. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 447 

The church, so neat, with box and pine, 

With holly, birch, and ivy-vine, 

Was decorated here and there, 

Quite simply, but with taste most rare ; — 

Each lamp was taken from its socket, 
And in its place were berries scarlet, 
All intermingled with the green 
So bright — while English ivy-vine 

Came trailing down, as if to show 

How luxuriantly it doth grow 

In this sunny Southern clime, 

Where blasting storms ne'er find a home. 

No "Merry Christmas" do we hear, 
But M Christmas Gift " from children dear ; 
The one who says it first, expects 
From others to receive the gifts. 

The observation of this day 
Is quite amiss ; I grieve to say 
How sadly here they do abuse 
The same, by a too frequent use 

Of ardent spirits ; the day doth seem 
More like "Election" — for we ken 
Poor foolish men oft then drink rum, 
As office-seekers give them some. 

One poor old " nig " was sent to-day 
To the land where good darkies go, 
I hope, by one who, though not black, 
Was, like the darkey, very drunk. 

Again, the day seems like the "Fourth," 
As celebrated by the youth ; 



448 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

What else they get it little matters, 
Only so they have fire-crackers. 

The hour, I fear, is getting late ; 
This jingle I '11 submit to fate, 
And when I write to you again, 
Will hope to have a better pen. 

No letter from home had I to-day, 
So must bear it as best I may : 
With a kiss for the children dear, 
1 11 say good-night, and then retire. 



LINES TO FROM HER SPIRIT-SISTER. 

My precious, darling sister ! I am with you 

! so often, in the hours 

When daylight fades, and twilight gathers anew 

From thy heart sweet memories 
Of all the happy days and years you and I 

Have lived and loved together. 

I wish, dear sister, you might feel my presence, — 

Might be more sure my spirit 
Returns to thee, nor thee alone, other ones — 

My father dear I visit, 
My mother, too, whose yearning heart oft bemoans 

Her loss, my gain, dear mother. 

I do so long to tell you all the rapture 

1 feel when you, my dear ones, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 449 

Draw near to me in heart and soul. The future 

Will bring to thee loving tones 
Oft whispered in the midnight breeze : you, sister 

My darling ! do oftentimes 

So lonely feel without me there, as of yore ; 

You long to clasp me fondly, 
Your heart is sad and desolate ; trials sore 

Have left their impress dreary ; 
I long, dear one, to aid thee still, saintly pure 

Thy spirit, but so weary ; — 

But brighter days, my sister dear, will, I think, 

Soon dawn for thee ; have patience, 
My own loved one, thou standest now near the brink 

Of some new joy — assurance 
Is mine to thee inform, though first thou wilt drink 

From sorrow's brimming chalice. 

Let not your heart be troubled : look upward ! 

And trust thou in God and us ; 
He is able, we are willing ; our love combined 

Shall leave thee not comfortless : 
We' 11 lead the kindly, by the surest, smoothest road, 

And thee, darling, will cheer and bless. 

Thy friends above are numerous, sister dear, 

We 're a happy loving band ; 
Sweet music fills our souls alway , — may its cheer 

Our dear ones reach — softly blend 
With their sweet strains wafted on high ; these we hear 

So oft in our summerland. 

Sweet flowers are blooming ever here ; their fragrance 

Perfumes the air so sweetly, 
Then rises to sublimer heights, as incense 

From those who rear tenderly 



450 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Kind nature's gifts, rare, beautiful ; sweet essence 
Of love, so pure, heavenly. 

Our loves we cherish fondly here and truly, 

So full, so rich, and so free ; 
Enough for all who will receive and kindly 

Return the same — more, maybe ; 
But fare thee well ! May blessings pure and holy 

Attend, loved one, thine and thee. 



FORSAKEN. 



My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me r 

Did I not leave all else beside to follow thee, — 

My home, my friends, and all that I on earth hold dear? 

And now dost thou withhold from me one word of cheer ? 

How long, O Lord ! how long must I in darkness grope, — 
How long by faith alone keep heart? I once had hope, 
*T is sinking fast ; the glimmering light I saw ahead, 
I see not now, — where hath it fled ? is it obscured 

By passing clouds which will at thy command disperse ? 
Wilt thou, my God, my heart and soul once more immerse 
In waters deep, so deep they seem my life to chill? 
I wait to hear my master say, Peace, be still. 

But no, still come these troublous waves ; each one gives place 
To sister wave, which in its turn doth me embrace, 
And leave me weaker, fainter than the one before ; 
Would they might waft my spirit forth to yon bright shore. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 451 

Why must I be so chained to earth ? I long to rise 
Above the same, to dwell with beings pure and wise, 
Whose pleasure doth for aye consist in words and deeds 
Of love and truth, supplying, daily, wants and needs 

Of those to whom they minister. The angel-world 
Is filled with such ; how sweet, how bright, what joys untold 
Await us there ! Our life-work, but begins on earth ; 
May it begin aright, we pray : the spirit-birth 

Will then be free, — the soul assimilate and blend 

In holy ecstasy of love, with heart and mina 

Congenial to its own ; no misconceptions there ; 

No midnight gloom : The pearl of truth, so bright and fair, 

Yet, sad to say, so oft o'erlooked by mortals here, 
Will then shine forth so radiant, so bright, so clear, 
No counterfeit can be produced to take its place, 
Or for one moment dim the beauty of its face. 

My angel-guides, O, where are they? I see them not, 
Nor do I sense their presence near ; is there no spot 
Where I may trace, in visions bright, their silent aid? 
Is there a purpose in this melancholy hid ? 

Must I through suffering obtain, what to the world 
I give in song ? is there no other way to gild 
Our earth-life, and fit us for a heavenly one ? 
Methinks I hear thee gently say, Behold my Son ! 

My gracious God ! forgive, I pray, these murmurings ; 
'Tis meet for me that I should have these wanderings, 
Else, how could I true sympathy and love bestow 
On poor, forsaken ones below ? Father, I bow 

Submissive 'neath thy chast'ning rod, and own it just ; 
Henceforth may I smother this grief, and firmly trust 



452 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

In Him who did his dearest Son suffer to die 
Upon the cross ; for what indeed, am I, that He 

Should mindful prove of my desire ? then take away 
This spirit of unrest, I pray ! give, day by day, 
What seemeth best ; help me to trust thee for the rest, 
And in sincerity to own — God knoweth best. 

If to obtain my heart's desire, my spirit's food, 
The physical I must restrain and crucify, 
Give strength, I pray, and patience too, that so I may 
Go boldly forth — bright chosen ones to lead the way. 

Draw near me, then, and let me feel, as in the past, 
Thy love is sure, thy truth it will forever last ; and 
Though I walk untrodden paths, thou still art near 
To guide me through the wilderness, so dark and drear. 

O, point me to the light ahead ! its rays divine 

Will then infuse my inmost soul ; I will resign 

My all to thee ; I would draw nearer, — feel thee dearer 

Than e'er thou hast been unto me ; Holy Father, — 

Send to me my dearest ones, for thine they are — 
Yes, thine and mine ! how sweet the thought, we all may share 
Thy love and joy, for thou hast said, Ye all are sons. 
Forsake not,then, for his dear sake whose crown was — thorns. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 453 



THE LITTLE MOTHER. 

A form of beauty and of grace 

She did possess, 
Her face was fair to look upon, 
Her hair as golden as the sun, 
Her lips, from them you fain would win 

A holy kiss. 

This little mother, too, was young ; 

Nevertheless, 
An infant lay upon her arm : 
She pressed it to her bosom warm 
As if to shield it from all harm, 

And to it bless. 

Beside her stood a sweet young child 

Two summers old ; 
The image of her mother, she, 
But from her tender eyes, so blue, 
Tears came flowing copiously ; 

Her grief seemed wild. 

My heart was touched ; the little one 

I twice before 
Had seen, in joyous, happy mood ; 
So innocent she seemed, and good, 
I wondered what could have transpired, 

To thus unbar 

The flood-gates of her little soul : 

What do you think? 
I gently called her by her name, — 
With outstretched arms to me she came, 
As if she thought I 'd save from harm ; 

Dear little Beck ! 



454 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I soothed her tenderly, and asked 

What made her cry ; 
The answer came. Dear little pet 
With eyes so sad, and cheeks so wet, 
Your lisping tones I '11 ne'er forget ! 

She thus did say, — 

M Bad little girls be all burned up." 

Father divine ! 
My heart g^ows sick ; this little lamb, 
Scarce old enough to lisp thy name, 
So early taught her tiny form 

Thou wouldst consign 

Unto the fiery flame, if she 

Did aught amiss ! 
We sat before an open fire, 
The flames arose, leaping higher 
Than was their wont. Poor little dear ! 

I stooped to kiss 

Her burning cheek ; I longed to say, 

It all is false, 
But there the little mother sat, 
And she, I knew, did from her heart 
Believe her teachings to be right. 

Alas ! alas ! — \ 

The mother, but a child herself; 

At years fifteen, 
The nuptial vow had been performed, 
The duties of the wife assumed, 
Her fair young life, alas, entombed 

In sorrow's shrine ! 

The joys and pains of motherhood 
She twice had borne, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 455 

When first the death-angel came down 
And bore away her first-born son, 
His work e'en then but just begun : 
He did return, 

And claim the little one as well — 

The babe so dear. 
The mother's heart seemed bursting now — ■ 
Misfortune, too, did them o'erthrow, 
Their home to others soon must go, 

'T was theirs no more. 

A shelter kind, and loving hearts, 

Were found beneath 
The little mother's homestead roof; 
Old friends did vie to give a proof 
Of sympathy. Is it enough 

For thee, O death? 

The frail young mother cried, and hope 

Kevived again ; 
For now the time was drawing near, 
To which, with joy outweighing fear, 
Her heart, so desolate and drear, 

Looked to regain 

Its wonted joy. — Maternity ! 

What love untold 
This simple word, doth oft embrace ! 
Sweet mother, rest a little space, 
And pray thee for renewed grace 

Ere thou behold — 

The counterpart of thy past woes ! 

For weeks her babe 
Sleeps peacefully, except at times 
When nourishment its body claims, 



456 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

No throb of pain its face alarms, — 
Kest, undisturbed, 

Seems all that this dear little one, 

Thus far requires. 
The mother watches eagerly 
The form which rests so languidly 
Upon her breast ; so tenderly 

She gazes now — 

Her heart is troubled. Precious babe ! 

What dost thou see ? 
His deep blue eyes he doth uplift : 
They seem, alas ! a sightless gift, 
As if the soul had gone out and left 

The door wide open : — 

Can this be true ! my darling blind ? 

Little mother, 
Thy cup indeed is filling fast, 
Thy sorrows did this shadow cast 
Upon thy babe ! Thy dream is past. 

He will never 

On earth, behold his mother's face ; 

Her gentle voice 
He soon will learn to know right well : 
The months go by, but who can tell 
How long? — Thy cup, indeed, is full. 

Dost thou rejoice 

O'er prospects which some would lament 

Little mother ? ■ 
Another bud of promise soon 
Will claim thy tender care, and win 
A place thy guileless heart within : 

Yes, a daughter 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 457 

Is folded to thy heart once more ; 

Unlike the boy, 
She doth possess a robust frame, 
And in a little space of time 
Becomes a sunlight in your home. 

Her father's joy, 

Her mother's pet, is she ; and yet 

Thy chief employ 
Remains the same, — to tenderly 
Watch o'er and guard so lovingly 
Him who to thee so clingingly 

Denotes his joy. 

His sweet young life has been of late 

So fraught with pain, 

No voice but thine could soothe to rest ; 

His tiny hands oft thee caress, 
As if to say, I love thee best, 

Dear mother mine ! 

Sweet babe ! thou soon wilt be released 

From suffering. 
Thy spirit pure in spotless robes 
Will soon be clothed ; thy sightless orbs 
And clayey form where nought disturbs 

Lie mouldering. 

Not so thy soul ; it shall ere long 

In beauty bloom, — 
Thy spirit-birth to thee unfold 
Visions of light ; pleasures untold 
Await thee there ; thou shalt behold 

No midnight gloom, — 

But brightness shall illume thy path, 
So dark below. 



458 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Little mother, we chide thee not ! 
Our Jesus wept, and it is meet 
That for thy precious babe so sweet 
Thy tears should flow : 

He hath to thee, full well we know, 

Been doubly dear, 
Because of his infirmity 
Which claimed thy heartfelt sympathy, 
Combined with love pure and holy. 

Angels hover near 

To comfort thee, as tenderly 

Thou dost prepare 
For its last home the waxen form 
So beautiful. No chill earth-storm 
Shall with conscious pain alarm 

Those features more. 

Then fold the little hands to rest, 

Stricken mother ; 
Brush from the forehead broad and full, 
The sunny hair, and lay each curl 
Adown upon the snowy pall ; 

Then bring hither 

Fresh flowers, most delicate and rare ; 

Scatter the same. 
E'en now his spirit hovers near 
And views the scene ; his vision clear 
Beholds the tender, drooping flower. 

Music sublime 

Floats from the angel-choir above 

And fills the air ; 
Weep ye not for the dead, mother, 
His anguish and pain are over ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 459 

Angels of light, pure and tender, 
For him will care. 

Now, reader kind, I have given 

The history, — 
At least so far as I it knew, — 
Of that dear little mother who 
Gave to her child, innocently, — 

Unconsciously, — 

That false and cruel conception 

Of Deity. 
From my heart went forth a burdened sigh, 
A prayer that heaven might grace supply 
To help unveil the mother's eye, 

And finally 

The truth be written on that brow, 

Divinely fair, 
Fresh powers of comprehension given 
To trace the light and joy of heaven 
Within herself, and God's own leaven 

"Working there, — 

Fill all her being with his love, 

Changeless ever 
As the luminous firmament, 
Pure and bright as the rainbow tint 
Which deepens when the storm is spent. 

Holy Father ! 

If thus Thy love her bosom fill, 

Her soul is saved ; 
No place remains for death and hell ; 
*T is with herself and children well ; 
No more will she the darlings tell, 

Heaven's path is paved 



460 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

With babes whose souls have been "burned up ;" 

Nay, much rather, 
Herself become like to a child, — 
Tread the pathway of Him who said, 
Of such is the kingdom of God. 

Fair young mother, 

Our prayer for thee is, that thy life 

Be full of light. 
Teach thou, in love, this to thy babes, — 
Fear not, Utile flock ; for it is 
Your Father's good pleasure to give 

You the kingdom 



ALONE 



" Then lead me, for O, I am lonelyl 
And love me, for I am thine only: 
Yes, Great One and True One! thine only, 
And with Thee am never alone." 

I oft, alas, do feel alone, yea, all alone, so far from those I 
dearly love ; I feel like Noah's weary dove, that soared the earth 
around, but not a resting place above the waters found. 

My life of late seems not mine own : I 'm tossed about hither 
and yon ; 't is well the earth is round ; if flat, I might come to the 
end some day, and fall, somewhere, anywhere, who would care ? 

Would not somebody say, " Well there, I 've wished it long ago, 
't is all because of that hallucinated brain ; I Ve warned her oft, 
't was of no use, she had her way, and now, alas, she bears alone 
the pain." 

Yes, friends, I truly bear alone, heartache and pain, although 
instead of falling lower, I feel myself rising higher, above this 
earthly plane. 

I know it is no fault of yours, for, as you say, you would have 
kept me still with you, had you known precisely how, also pos- 
sessed the power. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK 461 

But here I am ; the world is round, and large enough for you 
and me, though wide apart; and if the language of your heart 
remains the same, in truth 'tis better thus. 

The past only a vision bright has been, which soon will fade 
away ; though for a time 't will dim the sky, obscure the heavenly 
light which radiated us between, and seemed to cast a " sunbeam 
glancing o'er life's tears ; " 

Tears caused by sorrows of past years, deeply drifted in my 
heart. If this be all, and I henceforth alone must tread the 
weary walk of life below, — 

No friends, save those who dwell on high, and strive my soul 
to guide ; I pray that I may patience have to " bide my time," 
till I with them shall be at rest. 

If these love not the best, they surely, unlike some, are not 
afraid their love to show in its true light : not that I would my 
friends rebuke, for I have been, still am, so weak ; 

I pray, and strive, and fight, and ofttimes feel the mastery o'er 
self I ne'er shall gain, or selfish deeds and aims uproot ; if angels 
pure did not assist, a blotted page sadly defaced my life would 
show. 

Mine earthly friends, methinks, would number less than in the 
days of yore; and why? "When a mortal has dared to be wise, 
and seize upon truth as the soul's ( Magna Charta,' he always has 
won from the lovers of lies, the name of a fool, or the fate of a 
martyr." 

I doubt not you, my friends, will think me too severe ; I may 
be so, God grant I am, for your dear sakes as well as mine ; may 
you what I endure, and have in life passed through, never be 
made to feel, unless it be the only way to separate the false and 
true ; 

May God more gently deal with thee and thine, the dross cast 
out, the gold refine, without the seething, burning flame, which 
has been deemed in former time the best way, the divine. 

Methinks the world make a mistake in saying this, and do 
what they 've oft done before, — the sins which lie at their own 
door, palm off on Him who is above being tempted of evil, nei- 
ther tempteth he any man. 

Would he plead against me with his great power ? No ; but 
he would put strength in me. Do I need that strength ? Yes ; 



462 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

every day I need thee, my God : make haste to help me, and 
draw me nearer, Lord, to thee. 

Like Job, I feel to say : " Behold, I go forward, but he is not 
there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left 
hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him ; 

He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him ; 
but he knoweth the way that I take; when he hath tried me, I 
shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way 
have I kept, and not declined. 

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips ; 
I have esteemed the words of his mouth, more than my necessary 
food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him ? and what 
his soul desireth, even that he doeth." 

For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me : and 
many such things are with him. He doth for me care, I have 
therefore learned, — 

"When days are dark, and friends are few, on him to lean 
who, not in vain, experienced every human pain : He feels my 
griefs, He sees my fears, and counts and treasures up my tears." 

I will henceforth trust him ever ; for, " Shall mortal man be 
more just than his God ? shall man be more pure than his 
Maker?" 

My friends, think not my grief is for myself alone; it is for 
thee as well, yea, more, I do in truth believe ; you are by me, as 
in days agone, cherished fondly, loved most truly. 

I oft have felt, when in your presence dear, " Thou art so near, 
and yet so far." How is it now ? thou art so far ; and would to 
God I here might add, And yet so near, in heart, in soul, and 
spirit dear ; 't would cheer me on the road. 

But no, such bliss seems not for me on this side heaven, for I 
am far, yea, very far from all that I on earth hold dear. 

Do I, then, for this mourn ? Not for the distance as measured 
by miles or days, this I could bear without repining; but now, 
my cup is overflowing, my sky a murky haze. 

As a dream when one awaketh, so, Lord, am I. I thought ere 
this, my friends, some of them at least, would search with me 
these hidden mysteries ; not so, and I am waiting, waiting still. 

" I call to remembrance my song in the night : I commune 
with mine own heart." Hath God forgotten to be gracious? 
Nay, precious in his sight are you, my companions and friends ; 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 463 

then taste and see that the Lord is good : delay not, the longer 
you do idly wait, the harder to get free. 

Then say not thou within thyself, Yet a little more sleep, a lit- 
tle more slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. Awake, 
thine eyelids ope, and view the broad expanse of heaven so beau- 
tiful! 

The sunlight fair adorns the same, yet not for one alone it 
came ; for you, for me, for all who place themselves within its 
realm, its light goes forth ; come, feel the warmth its rays can 
give,— 

Thy spirits pure no longer grieve with errors taught in youth. 
" We do not ask for forms and creeds, or useless dogmas, old or 
new, but we do ash for christian deeds, with man's progression 
full in view. 

Both in your church and in your state, more of life and less of 
fashion, more of love and less of passion, that will make you 
good and just." 

Like David, I can truly say, for you, my dear ones, My heart 
and my flesh faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and 
my portion forever. 

But vain, dear Lord, would be my words if I should ask, 
Whom have I in heaven but Thee ? or say, There is none upon 
earth that I desire beside Thee. 

For I know in heaven many dear ones are waiting for me, yet 
working while they wait, tenderly guiding souls aright, the way 
of life teaching. 

And on earth, my God, are those that " I desire beside Thee ; " 
In thy sight it cannot be wrong, for mine are thine, and thine 
are mine, all subject to thy law. 

Stay yourselves, and wonder ; cry ye out, and cry, for the Lord 
hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath 
closed your eyes. It won't be long, the time is drawing very near 
when they also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding 
and thou shalt weep no more. 

He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry ; 
when he shall hear it, he will answer thee, and though the Lord 
give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet 
shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more. 

But thine eyes shall see thy teachers : and thine ears shall hear 



464 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when 
ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 

Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the 
sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of 
seven days. Shall these words fall like dew upon the souls I 
fain would bless ? 

And shall they, like the morning dew, as quickly disappear, or 
will they point some living one to fairer regions in the sky ? I 
still will work, and patiently will wait : 

The dew is not without its uses, too ; it gives a freshness to the 
fields, whose verdure doth depend on it, until the rain and gen- 
tle showers shall deeper moisture give. 

Shall I, then, despise the day of small things ? Nay, although 
I may not yet enter, I had rather be a door-keeper in the house 
of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 

For with Thee is the fountain of life : in thy light shall we see 
light ; thou us hast made, a little lower than the angels. If only 
a little lower, shall we not strive to rise higher, be the willing 
pupils of those who dwell in regions fair, in homes eternal ? 

The words of the Lord are pure words : as silver tried in a fur- 
nace of earth, purified seven times. How many times shall I, 
dear Lord, pass through the fire, to be by Thee, sufficiently tried ; 
and shall my soul be purified and breathe the nether air? 

Methinks seventy times seven refining fires do scarce suffice 
for some of us. Thou hast showed thy people hard things : thou 
hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. 

Not that we murmur at the Lord, for we know, if the iron be 
blunt, and he doth not whet the edge, then must he put to more 
strength. 

My heart, Lord, is dull of understanding, my eyes see not with 
quick clearness : Long ago had I fainted, unless I had believed to 
see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 

Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen 
thine heart : wait, I say, on the Lord. But as for me, my feet 
were almost gone ; my steps had well-nigh slipped, and I said, 0, 
that I had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, and be 
at rest. 

Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. 
I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. 

Do I blame thee, do I chide thee, friends beloved ? Nay, I 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 465 

blame not, I chide not any, though I pass through sorrows deep, 
have trials many; for God maketh my heart soft. 

May what I here suffer be for his glory: though piercing thorns 
my flesh may tear, the " crown of thorns " I ne'er shall wear. 
Times were when I, from day to day, scarce knew how I should 
sup, with whom should dine, my purse so little did contain ; 

I ate most sparingly, yet dwelling upon the Psalmist's words : 
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the 
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of 
many wicked. Eest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him ; 
fret not thyself. 

Who runs may read, and many here will doubtless say, "We 
would have helped you willingly." If I were hungry I would not 
tell thee. Do any ask why ? 

Because they know not, neither will they understand : some 
will blame, other some will chide ; one say shame, another, false 
pride ; but who shall countermand ? 

Suffer me that I may speak ; and after that I have spoken, 
mock on. As for me, is my complaint to men? Is not God 
in the height of heaven ? 

And behold the light of the stars, how high they are! and 
thou sayest, how doth God know ? Can he judge through the 
dark cloud ? Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace : 
thereby good shall come unto thee. 

Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto 
thee ! and the light shall shine upon thy ways. When men are 
cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up ; and he shalL 
save the humble person. 

He shall deliver the island of the innocent ; and it is delivered 
by the pureness of thine hands. Hear this, all ye people ; give' 
ear, all ye inhabitants of the world : Both low and high, rich and 
poor, together, for he is no respecter of persons. 

The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people. Mercy 
and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed 
each other; truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteous- 
ness shall look down from heaven. 

Friends, I ask you now to consider with me the words of one 
whom you have been taught from youth to believe was the most 



466 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

patient man the earth ever knew. Had he much, think yon, to 
contend with ? 

Do you surmise that he did all this suffering forego, pass 
through, to prepare him to teach this lesson of patience unto 
generations yet unborn ? 

Persons are often said to possess the patience of Job, in fact, 
it is a household by-word, and repeatedly used by those who know 
not what they say. Not long ago I heard of a book entitled, 
" The Sixteen Crucified Saviours : " 

The work I have not seen, and know nought of it except its 
name, but the thought occurred to me, that if sixteen Saviours 
had been known, Job must surely have been one. 

What do his sufferings teach us, humanity to bless, or curse ? 
Himself hath told; read, I will teach you by the hand of God: 
that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. Behold all 
ye yourselves have seen it ; why then are ye thus altogether vain ? 

I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him 
that had none to help him ; I caused the widow's heart to sing 
for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. 

My judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the 
blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, 
and the cause which I knew not I searched out. 

Be it known that this was in the days of Job's prosperity, or, 
as he expresses it, When the Almighty was yet with me, when 
his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked 
through darkness. 

Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my 
days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the 
dew lay all night upon my branch. 

My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my 
hand. Unto me men gave ear and waited, and kept silence at 
my counsel ; after my words they spake not again ; 

And my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me 
as for the rain ; and they opened their mouth wide as for the lat- 
ter rain. 

If I laughed on them, they believed it not ; and the light o 
my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and 
sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth 
the mourners. 

The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 467 

arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid 
their hand on their mouth. 

The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the 
roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; 
and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. The stranger 
did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the trav- 
eller. 

Do you behold, my friends, any praiseworthy deeds in the life 
of him whom God scourged ? was he scourged because of good 
deeds ? Nay, rather because of men's needs. 

I verily believe he endured, in God's way, his full measure of 
pain and woe, as much as did He, the Life, the Truth, the Way. 

I fear we give not Job the honour due ; one thing I fear we do 
forget, which is, when he was so beset by high and low, and per- 
formed those noble deeds of charity, 'twas at a time when he 
possessed both wealth and honour, and we know how hard it is, 
has ever been, for these same rich ones to enter the kingdom of 
love, or to acknowledge a brother as such, whose station in life is, 
in worldly respects, lower than his. 

For us, we would sooner look for sympathy and help in time of 
need, from those below us in station and wealth ; this we say from 
actual experience, having proved its truth. 

And here let me say, if you should e'er seek aid in behalf of 
some worthy, charitable object, avoid the rich. He, who his daily 
bread earns by the u sweat of his brow," will give twice as much, 
and with a more willing heart ; the rich may give — a look — 
which hurts a sensitive spirit. 

But we will not leave Job, as did his friends of old when ad- 
versity came upon him. These friends if such we may call them, 
left him out in the cold : read what he saith. 

But now they that are younger than me have me in derision : 
they were children of fools, yea, children of base men ; they were 
viler than the earth. 

And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword ; they abhor me, 
they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. Because 
he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me, they have also let loose 
the bridle before me, they push away my foot, they mar my path. 

And the thing which I knew not I searched out. Friend, go 
thou and do likewise ; some things will doubtless you surprise if 
you once get afloat, but never mind, you will see what you do see. 



468 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and bread cometh out 
of the earth, but when shall wisdom be found ? and where is the 
place of understanding ? 

Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the 
land of the living. The depth saith, it is not in me : and the sea 
saith, it is not with me: it cannot be gotten for gold, neither 
shall silver be weighed for the price therof. 

It cannot be valued with the Gold of Ophir, with the precious 
onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it : 
and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 

No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price 
of wisdom is above rubies : the topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal 
it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. 

Whence then cometh wisdom? seeing it is hid from the eyes of 
all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. 

God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place 
thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth un- 
der the whole heaven ; and he weigheth the waters by measure. 

When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the light- 
ning of the thunder : then did he «see it, and declare it ; he pre- 
pared it, yea, and searched it out. 

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is 
wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding. Amen and 
amen. 

W"e feel that aught which we can say, can add little weight to 
these truths, self-evident to all of wise intent. 

To some they come in youth, others must wait for riper years; 
those who receive on earth a taste, have much to learn when they 
go hence : Many here mourn an idle misspent youth. 

If we should speak only of things pleasing to you, our mission 
would not be complete ; we seek not to mislead, but keeping the 
truth in view give full assurance that all who in sincerity inquire, 
and seek true wisdom from above, shall not in vain aspire, their 
hearts shall be grounded in love to do the thing which good is. 

But I grieve to say there are those that rebel against the light; 
they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the path thereof. 

The murderer, rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy, 
and in the night is as a thief. The eye also of the adulterer wait- 
eth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me : and disguiseth 
his face. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 469 

In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked 
for themselves in the daytime : they know not the light; for the 
morning is to them even as the shadow of death. If one know 
them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. 

He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and 
no man is sure of life ; lo these are parts of his ways : 

God forbid that I should justify : till I die I will not remove 
mine integrity from me. This is the portion of a wicked man 
with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall re- 
ceive of the Almighty. 

If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his off- 
spring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those that remain of 
him shall be buried in death : and his widows shall not weep. 

Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as 
the clay; he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the 
innocent shall divide the silver. 

He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the pau- 
per maketh ; the rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be 
gathered : he openeth his eyes and he is not. 

Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest steals him away 
in the night. The east wind carrieth him away and he depart- 
eth : and as a storm hunteth him out of his place. 

For God shall cast upon him, and not spare : he would fain 
flee out of his hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and 
shall hiss him out of his place. 

We would here a few suggestions make to the "rich," or rather, 
would of them inquire, why it is that in the Scriptures we inva- 
riably find the rich, coupled with the unjust, and with the wicked? 

Can ye not come out from among them, and be ye separate ? 
May God in his infinite mercy help and deliver you ! 

Although we have gleaned much wisdom, understanding, and 
good counsel, from patient Job, we find that, in the sight of God, 
even he was not " all clean." 

In the anguish of his spirit, his soul was filled with contempt 
for — we had almost said God and man. Unto God he made his 
complaint, and said, Did not I weep for him that was in trouble ? 
was not my soul grieved for the poor? 

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me : and when I 
waited for light, then came darkness : I went mourning without 
the sun ; 



470 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

I stood up and I cried in the congregation. My harp is tuned 
to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. I 
cry, and thou dost not hear me ; thou art become cruel to me. 

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw 
myself in the gate, — then let mine arm fall from my shoulder- 
blade, if I have made gold my hope, or have said to fine gold, 
Thou art my confidence. 

If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine 
hand had gotten much ; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or 
the moon walking in brightness ; and my heart hath been sweetly 
enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand : 

This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge : for 
I should have denied the God that is above. 

If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniq- 
uity in my bosom : Did I fear a great multitude ? 

0, that one would hear me ! behold, my desire is, that the Al 
mighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a 
book. 

(Right here let us say to friends and foes, If we had a desire to 
retaliate, the most satisfactory way of doing so would be, that 
they might write a book, and subject it and the author to the 
criticisms of — everybody.) 

Surely, I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a 
crown to me. I would declare unto him the number of my steps ; 
as a friend would I go near unto him. 

Tf my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof 
complain ; if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or 
have caused the owners thereof to lose their lives : 

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. 
The words of Job are ended. 

Ended for a time only, as we shall soon see, although after 
this, his words were few, and in reply to the Almighty, who had 
heard his prayer. 

Some of our readers may not be aware of the fact, that Job, 
and others of the so-called holy men of old, held converse with 
immortal beings through earthly mediums. 

These mediums are not easily traced in scriptural writings, un- 
less our minds are predisposed in that direction, from the fact, 
that diverse appellations are given them. 

In the case we have before us they were designated " friends." 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 471 

Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad tlie Shuhite, and Zophar the Na- 
amathite. These three, according to the book of Job, were con- 
sulted by him alternately and quite frequently. 

Now after Job had ended his sayings, these three men ceased 
to answer him, because they said he was righteous in his own eyes. 

If the Almighty had not heard his heart's desire, and answered 
the same in his own appointed way, who would have known the 
latter eud of Job ? we surely should have inferred that the last 
state of that man was worse than the first. 

But the end is not yet : mysterious are the ways of our God, by 
whose agency a young man, named Elihu, was sent to reason with 
Job, and his three friends. Now this young man was filled with 
the spirit within, and could not keep silence. 

Against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified him- 
self rather than God ; also against his three friends was his wrath 
kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had con- 
demned Job. 

"Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were 
elder than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the 
mouths of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. 

He answered and said, I am young, and ye are old; wherefore 
I was afraid, and dared not show you mine opinion. I said, Days 
should speak, and multitudes of years should teach wisdom. 

But there is a spirit in man : and the inspiration of the Al- 
mighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always 
wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. 

Therefore I said, Hearken to me ; I also will show mine opinion. 
Behold I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, 
while ye searched out what to say. 

Yea, I attended unto you, and behold there was none of you 
that answered Job, or that answered his words : lest ye should 
say, We have found out wisdom. 

Xow he hath not directed his words against me: neither will I 
answer him with your speeches. They were amazed, they an- 
swered no more, they left off speaking. 

When I had waited, (for they spake not) I said, I will answer 
also my part, I also will show mine opinion, for I am full of mat- 
ter : the spirit within me constraineth me, — I will speak, that I 
may be refreshed. 

Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to 



472 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

all my words. Behold, I am according to thy wish, in God's 
stead : I also am formed out of the clay. 

Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my 
hand be heavy upon thee : surely thou hast spoken in mine hear- 
ing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, 

I am clean, without transgression, I am innocent ; neither is 
there iniquity in me. Behold, He findeth occasion against me ; 
he counteth me for his enemy; he putteth my feet in the stocks, 
he maketh all my paths. 

Behold, in this thou art just ; I will answer thee, that God is 
greater than man. Why dost thou strive against him? for he 
giveth not account of any of his matters. 

For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. 
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon 
men, in slumberings upon their bed ; then he openeth the ears 
of men and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man 
from his purpose, and hide pride from man. ■ 

If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a 
thousand, to show unto man his uprightness : then he is gracious 
unto him. He looketh unto men, and if any say, I have sinned, 
and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he 
will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see 
the light. 

Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring 
his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the liv- 
ing. 

Mark well, Job ! hearken unto me : Is it fit to say to a king, 
Thou art wicked, and to princes, Ye are ungodly ? much less to 
him that accepteth not the person of princes, nor regardeth the 
rich more than the poor ; for they are all the work of his hands. 

In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled 
at midnight, and pass away : and the mighty shall be taken away 
without hand. For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he 
seeth all his goings. 

There is no darkness, no shadow of death, where the workers 
of iniquity may hide themselves. For He will not lay upon man 
more than right ; 

For the work of a man shall He render unto him, and cause 
every man to find according to his ways. Surely it is meet to be 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 473 

said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any- 
more : 

That which I see not, teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, 
I will do no more. 

Should it be according to thy mind ? He will recompense it, 
whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose ; and not I. 

Elihu spake, moreover, and said, Thinkest thou this to be 
right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's ? for 
thou saidst, What will it be unto thee ? and, what profit shall I 
have, if I be cleansed from my sin ? 

I will answer thee and thy companions with thee. Look unto 
the heavens and see : and behold the clouds which are higher 
than thou. 

If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him ? or if thy trans- 
gressions be multipled, what doest thou unto him ? If thou be 
righteous, what givest thou him ? or what receiveth he of thine 
hand? 

Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art ; and thy right- 
eousness may profit the son of man. By reason of the multi- 
tude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry ; they cry out 
by reason of the arm of the mighty. 

But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in 
the night ; who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, 
and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven ? 

Then they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of 
evil men ; surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Al- 
mighty regard it. 

Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth 
words without knowledge. 

Elihu also proceeded, and said, Suffer me a little, and I will 
show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf, for truly my 
words shall not be false : he that is perfect in knowledge is with 
thee. 

Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any; he is mighty in 
strength and wisdom ; he preserveth not the life of the wicked : 
but giveth right to the poor. 

He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous : he delivereth 
the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression. 
Even so would we have removed thee out of the straight into 



474 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

a broad place, where is no straightness ; and that which be set on 
thy table should be full of fatness. 

But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment 
and justice take hold on thee. Will he esteem thy riches ? No, 
not gold nor all the forces of strength. 

Behold, God exalteth by his power : who teacheth like him ? 
God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of 
his years be searched out. 

God thundereth marvellously with his voice ; great things doeth 
he, which we cannot comprehend; for he saith to the snow, Be 
thou on the earth ; 

Likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. 
He sealeth up the hand of every man, that all men may know 
his work. 

Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. Out 
of the south cometh the whirlwind : and cold out of the north. 
By the breath of God frost is given : and the breadth of the wa- 
ters is straightened. 

Also by watering, he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth 
his bright cloud, and it is turned about by his counsels, that they 
may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the 
world in the earth. 

He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, 
or for mercy. Hearken unto this, Job : stand still, and con- 
sider the wondrous works of God. 

Friends, we have here given but a few, of the many words 
which Elihu spake, for Job and his companions' sake. What we 
have given, wilt thou also consider, and see if ye find not therein 
more perfect wisdom, and higher knowledge, than had been be- 
fore vouchsafed him, even through his three elder " friends." 

This young man, who, from his speech, we should infer, was 
but lightly esteemed by Job, because of his youth and inexperi- 
ence, was moved by the spirit to speak in the name of the Lord, 
or, as he said, in God's stead. 

We can only judge of the effect produced upon those who 
hearkened unto him from his own words, as no reply was vouch- 
safed him from Job, or from his friends. 

As his inspiration ends, a still greater mystery awaits ns; for 
we read that the Lord himself speaks to Job out of the whirlwind. 
Would you know his words, read Job, chapters xxxviii to xlii. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 475 

These chapters four so much contain, so many truths reveal, 
we have it not in our hearts to disannul, by giving only portions 
of the same; but for the benefit of those who take not the time to 
peruse more, we will give the commencement sublime : also, Job's 
reply unto the Lord. 

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ? 
Gird up now thy loins like a man : for I will demand of thee, 
and answer thou me. 

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 
declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measure 
thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath stretched the line upon it ? 

Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid 
the corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy ? 

Hath the rain a father ? or who hath begotten the drops of 
dew ? out of whose womb came the ice ? and the hoary frost of 
heaven, who hath gendered it ? 

The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is 
frozen. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or 
loose the bands of Orion ? 

Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty, instruct him ? he 
that reproveth God, let him answer it. 

Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile ; 
what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. 
Once have I spoken : but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will 
proceed no further. 

What have we here ? hath Job forgotten his desire ? Did he 
expect the Almighty would take him at his word and deign to 
answer ? Job refrained from replying to the Lord. 

Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and 
said, Gird up thy loins now like a man : I will demand of thee, 
and declare thou unto me. 

Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, 
that thou mayest be righteous ? hast thou an arm like God? 

Thus did the Lord show forth his own great power and might, 
until sublimity itself seemed lost in wonder ; a belief in the same, 
a giddy height reaching beyond the frail conception of man. 
. The heavens may declare the glory of the Lord, but who upon 
earth is equal thereto ? No wonder that Job did humble himself 



476 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

before his God, who did thus condescend the very clouds of 
heaven to rend, showing his mighty power. 

Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst 
do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge ? therefore 
have I uttered that I understood not : things too wonderful for 
me, which I knew not. 

Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak : I will demand of thee, 
and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing 
of the ear : but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore I abhor my- 
self, and repent in dust and ashes. 

And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words 
unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my wrath is 
kindled against thee, and against thy two friends : for ye have 
not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 

How wondrously deep and wise are these teachings! The 
friends upon whose counsel Job most depended, it seems were 
not adapted to inspire his soul with the wisdom and understand- 
ing he needed, and which might be summed up in two words — 
Know thyself. 

We have here, plain evidence that length of days and multiplic- 
ity of years, does not always secure to man the greatest amount 
of wisdom ; the youth in this case, rendering more perfect knowl- 
edge. 

No word of rebuke received he from his Master, while his el- 
ders were charged with cruel slanders against God. A reprieve 
however, is granted them, through the intercession of Job. We 
are not informed whether, like him, they received blessings two- 
fold, and lived to a good old age. 

And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for 
his friends ; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had be- 
fore. Then came unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, 
and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did 
eat bread with him in his house. 

And they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil 
that the Lord had brought upon him ; every man also gave him 
a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So the Lord 
blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. 

Line upon line, line upon line — page after page, page after 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 477 

page — have here been penned, when I, in truth, did not intend 
loneliness to thus assuage. 

I little realized myself, how patient Job had been pursued by 
fears within, and foes without: he must be clean, and wear a 
spotless robe ; I 'm sure he doth deserve the same. 

I wonder why the best of men have been, still are, abused and 
tantalized by fellow-men. I oft have tried to reason out and 
solve the problem in my mind ; at times I do get on quite well, 
and some things truthfully divine. 

But then, the world is round, my friends seem not inclined to 
travel on with me. Must I go forward all alone, traverse each 
country in its turn : and from each one, maybe, a fresh experi - 
ence gain ? What good will come of it ? 

If no one but myself can be benefited thereby, then give me 
peace and rest : yet how shall this even be done ? can I go back ? 

A spirit dear says, Nay, 'tis useless quite for you to try ; if you 
do courage lack, come boldly to the throne of grace, plead for 
thyself, plead for thy loving ones as well, be not -discouraged ! 

Thy friends, while grieving o'er thy poor, hallucinated brain, 
have hearts still warm with love for thee : then chide them not : 
speak kindly, deal gently, cherish lovingly thy friends, thine own, 
who ne'er will thee forget. 

Think not thou art, and ever must be, all alone : thou hast on 
earth many, who would gladly their arms about thee fold, and 
soothe with gentle tone thy weary soul. 

They cannot all thy sorrows know, like us who are to thee 
more near, although by them considered far. Angels pure attend 
thee, and call thee from earth away — earth's cares I mean. 

You could not do our heavenly work, while minist'ring unto 
thy friends; beside, thou hast thine own life to nourish, and 
guard well for Him who gave it thee : 

A boon we know thou didst not crave, he did bestow. And 
thou, dear one, in time shall learn to prize what thou hast oft in 
days agone considered but a burden sore. 

'Tis not so now, and nevermore shalt thou thyself resign to 
days and weeks of melancholy, as heretofore ; not that we chide 
thee, for this also did thy soul need to pass through, fitting for 
its future. 

1" angels bright ! angels fair ! may I for aye in thee confide, 



478 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

live near unto ; in all the years which come and go, may Truth 
and Love combine to draw me nearer heaven and thee. 

May love divine most graciously fill all my soul, for then I '11 
never, never feel — no — not all alone. 



HOME AT LAST. 

Yes, Father dear, I'm home at last ; thy loving arm 
Hath me upheld ; dangers arose, and doubts and fears 

My weary spirit did oppress ; but, safe from harm, 
Once more I rest, nor water now my couch with tears ; 
Disquietude gives place to peace. 

Amid the din of city life I found not this ; 

My heart rebelled ; in agony I cried to thee ; 
I begged my guides to lead the way to some lone place 

Where I could rest from toil and strife, and also see 
My home made bright through them, by thee. 

My prayers did not ascend in vain : thy gracious ear 
Was open to my mournful cry ; and thou didst send 

An angel bright, who did for me unbar the door, 
And bid depart unto a distant, foreign land, — 
My home, the while, the deep blue sea. 

My course was toward the " sunny South ; " my feeble powers, 
They said, would there recuperate ; my failing strength 

Would be renewed ; I should, at times, see lonely hours : 
My heart would yearn for those I loved : I should at length 
Return unto my native land. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 479 

The sky was bright, the sea was calm, when I launched forth 
Upon its broad expanse alone, — to earthly eyes, — 

Yet not alone : my dear ones, who by spirit-birth 
Have soared aloft, beheld me from their natal skies, 
And made their home within my soul. 

At length there came a fearful storm : for days and nights 
The tempest-toss'd lay sick and faint, afar from land, 

"Rocked in the cradle of the deep." The sweet delights 
Of sailing on the calm, blue sea, were at an end, — 
Lost in the mighty, raging deep. 

Then "Peace, be still," the Master said, and forthwith came 
A sweet repose o'er land and sea. We anchored safe : 

No one was lost of all the crew. Be it our aim 

To fear no danger, — trust in Thee, who will through life 
Our home decree, where thou seest fit. 

O, what a change do we behold ! bright, sunny skies 

In place of winter's chilly blast ; sweet, blooming flowers 

Their fragrance shed ! We gaze around in glad surprise, 
For, surely, here we, for a time, 'mid friendly bowers 
A home may find, — kind friends may win, 

If we unto ourselves are true, striving to do 
Unto all others as we would that they in turn 

Should do to us. We feel, we know, we then shall be 
Upheld and guided by thy love, from thee shall learn 
'Tis home wherever duty calls. 

Then may each trial we endure, our souls refine 
And purify. Our spirit- vision, too, unfold, — 

That we may see the light ahead, — no more repine 

At thy commands, who first did form, who still wilt mould 
Our life and character aright. 



480 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

If here thou hast a work for us, — with heartfelt zeal 
We still will strive to walk by faith, if not by sight: 

Thine own unerring judgment will more kindly deal 

With us and ours, though clouds of grief and sorrow's night 
At times prevail, we trust thee still. 

Enough to say, We wait on time, with heaven's own 
Sunshine in our heart, rejoicing in the faith sublime, 

That those who love can never part, and, wheresoe'er 
The soul may dwell, that God will order all things well, 
And guide us to our home on high. 



WHAT I LOVE MOST. 

I love the merry, merry sunshine, 

With all that 's gay and bright and fair ; 

No stormy seas for me and mine, 

But joyous, happy, free from care, — 

We'd roam through forest, field, and plain, 
Seeking for treasures rich and rare, 

'Neath woodland shade and mountain glen, 
Where pure and fresh and free the air. 

I love the little birds that sing 

And warble forth their Maker's praise 

As upward they soar on joyful wing, 
Tuning their sweetest roundelays. 

The tender little flow'rets, too, 

Which sweetly scent the morning air, 

As, sprinkled o'er with heavenly dew, 
They send forth fragrance rich and rare. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 481 

I love my dear and happy home, 
My kind and loving friends so true ; 

Not far from these I 'd wish to roam, 
Unless by duty called to go. 

I love my quiet, sunny room ; 

Its many gathered treasures there 
Recall to mind my dearest ones, 

Who wait for me " just over there." 

The little children, full of glee, 

With hearts so tender, warm, and true, 

Come clust'ring round about my knee, 
And often murmur, M I love you ; " 

And then their pouting, rosy lips 

To mine they raise for one sweet kiss : 

I love their merry, prattling ways, 
Nor would I miss their fond caress. 

But dearer far than all the rest 

Are loving spirits gone before, 
Whose kind return, at our behest, 

Oft us instruct in sacred lore, — 

Teaching the way of life to find, 

And truth eternal to embrace : 
Their light has on our darkness shined, 

And soon we '11 see them face to face. 

This is an idle tale, you say, 

Some fancy wild, or vision fair, 
Which soon will crumble quite away, 

And vanish into empty air. 

Dear friends, I have no wish to chide ; 
The time will come, I full well know, 



482 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

When in these truths you '11 too confide, 
For the angels tell me so. 

The question 1 11 not argue here, 
For words, I know, would not avail, 

But strive, by deeds and actions pure, 
Though tempest-tossed by many a gale, 

To raise my beacon-light so high, 
While sailing o'er life's troubled sea, 

That those who pass me coldly by, 
The light may see, and danger flee. 



WORDS OF LOVE. 

How few, o'er all this wide, wide earth, 
Have learned to comprehend the worth 
Of loving words we all might give ; 
And more like Jesus then we 'd live. 

His kindly deeds, his words of love, 
Are proof to us that God above, 
A mission gave him to fulfil, 
And thus make known his sacred will. 

Then, if we do his counsels heed, 
And follow on where he doth lead, 
The labors of our life shall prove 
We, too, have felt the power of love. 

Though gold and silver we have none, 
Kind words, we know, are all our own ; 
More precious, too, we feel they are 
Than rubies bright, or pearls so fair. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 483 

They fall like gentle ev'ning dew, 
If from a heart that 's warm and true, 
And oft they cheer the sorrowing one 
Whose pathway here is sad and lone. 

When pain and anguish rack our frame, 
And life seems but a troubled dream, 
How sweet the voice of tender love, 
Murm'ring softly, There 's rest above ! 

We hear the sweet and silv'ry tone, 
And feel ourselves not all alone, 
For kind and loving friends are near, 
To wipe away the falling tear. 

If we in sunny childhood's hour 
Are taught the wondrous, holy power 
Of gentle words aod loving deeds, 
Our hearts are sown with heavenly seeds, 

Which, scattered wide o'er many a field, 
Shall fragrant flowers immortal yield, 
Whose sweetest incense, wafted high, 
Shall draw us upward to the sky. 

The child whose young and tender mind 
Is saddened oft by words unkind, 
Will quick respond, and glad reply, 
With cheerful heart and beaming eye, 

If it but hear, in accents mild, 
The voice of her whose love beguiled 
From lips so pure their first sweet kiss, 
And fondly cherished each embrace. 

How oft I 've seen the tear-drop start 
From eyes so blue they seemed a part 



484 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Of heaven's own azure from the sky. 
Why, ye thoughtless ones, O, why 

Will ye thus mar the tender bud 
Which scarce has passed its babyhood ? 
Yet, tiny as it may appear, 
'T is not too young to see and hear. 

A smile of thine, a tone of love, 
Calls forth an answering one to prove 
'T is all within the baby's reach, 
Though yet denied the power of speech. 

If in our homes we strive to share 
The burdens we are called to bear, 
Our homes, like to the ones above, 
Will teem with kindness, peace, and love. 

In radiance they will far outshine 
What wealth and honor can combine — 
If love and kindness have no part — 
To cheer and soothe the aching heart. 

So pure and gentle may we be, Lord, 
That thoughts of heaven, of love, and thee, 
Our souls may fill ; and may we have 
That peace the world can never give. 

Within ourselves, we then will own, 
The kingdom of thy love has come ; 
And as thy will in heaven is done, 
So may it be on earth the same. 

May angels bright, still guard and guide, 
Until we reach the other side ; 
And then conduct us to our home, 
Whence nevermore we 11 wish to roam. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 485 

O, haste the day when all the earth 
Shall feel the power, shall feel the worth 
Of deeds of kindness, words of love, 
As taught by Him, who reigns above. 



TO AUNTIE. 



Yea, in this dreary wilderness, 

Where all seems dark, and lone, and sad, 
There comes a light within thy soul 

Which bids thy heart once more be glad. 
'T is not for us to stay the tide 

Of life's tempestuous, angry sea, 
As o'er the dashing waves you ride, 

And vainly strive the storm to flee. 

Another mission still is ours, 

Which gives us pleasure to fulfil : 
It is to cheer, to bless, to guide, 

Directing how to shun the ill. 
We see thy worn and anxious face, 

We know thy heart is often sad ; 
But life nor death can e'er efface 

The inbred truth which makes thee glad. 

We know that trials will befall, 

As through life's tangled maze you tread, 
'T is not the fate of one, but all 

Must stem the tide they so much dread. 
We sorrow not like those below, 

Whose feeble vision fails to prove 
The depth of wisdom, power, and love 

Bestowed on man by God above. 



486 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

For in this bright and happy land, 

We look beyond the flight of time, 
Assured that all in our lov'd band 

Sweet fields of beauty yet shall roam. 
Then upward raise thy drooping lids, 

Bid cares depart, and never fear, 
For in the future, calm, serene, 

A light for thee shines bright and clear. 



SOFT AND LOW. 



O, list ye to the gentle breeze 
As, softly sighing through the trees, 
It wafts its fragrance as it goes 
Lulling thee to sweet repose. 

O, lov'st thou not the woodland air, 
When skies are bright, and fields are fair ! 
And seems it not a hallo w'd place, 
As God in nature here we trace ? 

The babbling brook, the quiet dell, 

Both cast around a soothing spell, 

While birds which hop from bough to bough, 

Are sweetly singing — soft and low : 

The little flowers beneath our feet, 
So shy and modest, yet so sweet, 
Do lift their tiny heads and cry — 
O, crush us not as you pass by, — 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 487 

But stoop and cull our fairest ones, 
And take unto your loving homes ; 
We will repay your tender care, 
Distilling fragrance rich and rare. 

I love to sit me down and think, 
Beside the river's mossy brink, 
Whose pearly water's ceaseless flow 
Is ever murm'ring, soft and low. 

A holy calm pervades my breast — 
Sweet foretaste of the heavenly rest. 
Though oft I 've bowed beneath the rod, 
I know it was the will of God. 

Yet at the time 't was hard to trace 
The workings of his truth and grace ; 
My heart was filled with calm despair : 
I heeded not his tender care, 

But, brooding o'er my trials sore, 
Shut close my heart and barred the door. 
But lo ! a glim'ring light I see, 
And voices whisper, 'T is for thee. 

I saw this feeble, flick'ring ray 
Increase in brightness day by day ; . 
My fears dispersed, my hopes grew bright ; 
I prayed my God to give me light : 

The angels quickly caught the strain, 
Then soft and low their sweet refrain 
Is wafted from ethereal skies, 
Ee-echoing their glad replies. 

My softened heart is all aglow, 
To know the angels love me so : 



4,88 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

A sister, brothers, friends most dear, 
I fondly loved and cherished here, 

Do all with one consent unite 
To guide me in the path of right ; 
While brighter yet, and still more bright 
Steals o'er my soul a glorious light. 

Then 'neath the summer sky, so fair, 
I '11 raise mine eyes in silent prayer 
To Him who reigns in heaven above, 
And e'er acknowledge — God is love. 



OUR FATHER'S CARE. 

As flow'rs their sweetest fragrance shed 
O'er all who come within their reach, 

So may each gentle soul be led 

To grasp the lesson these may teach ; 

For it is one we all may learn, 

And may it practise, too, each day, 

Nor from the poor and needy turn, 
Who scarce can find one cheering ray. 

On all alike the glorious sun 

Gives forth its rays of beauteous light, 
Nor from the sad and sorrowing one 

Withholds its beams, so clear and bright. 

It is our Father's loving care 

Which guides the weary footsteps right, 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 489 

And bids us ever kindly share 
The joys which open to our sight. 

O, may each gentle thought of love 

Our wildest passions all control, 
Like music wafted from above 

In sweetest cadence o'er the soul. 

And if a wider range of thought 's 

Bestowed upon some favored one, 
Whose life with toil has e'er been fraught 

For others more than self alone, — 

O, may the purest joys of earth 

From such go forth to bless mankind ; 

Nor pass those by of humble birth, 

For hearts have they, both warm and kind, 

Though chilled, perchance, by winter's blast ; 

And days of sorrow, nights of pain, 
May for a time their shadows cast, 

Yet summer days will come again. 

Then let us ever faithful prove, — 
With others kindly, truly share 
The blessings show'red from heaven above, 
/ All by our loving Father's care. 



490 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



VISIONS OF THE PAST. • 

Aye, past ! those bright and happy days 

Of childhood's early, rosy morn ; 
Yet back to thee our mem'ry strays, 

Though hushed and still the gentle song 
Those happy careless days of yore, 

To heedless sport and pleasure free, 
When close beside our cottage door, 

'T was only, sister, you and me. 
But soon another joins our band ; 

A baby-brother now have we : 
They say he came from baby-land, 

And now his home with us shall be. 
We sit and muse, nor can explain 

What unto us a myst'ry seems. 
O, these are links in life's long chain, 

Realities, beautiful dreams. 
As time speeds on, our band of three 

Its numbers swell, till now we 're ten : 
Our brothers six, four sisters we, — 

All joined in love and sympathy. 
But time is ever on the wing ; 

He comes with soft and gentle tread, 
Yet swift and sure the message brings, 

And one is numbered with the dead. 
It is the sweet and tender bud 

Which last did join our earthly band ; 
So pure, so fair, we would not call 

Thy spirit back from that bright land. 
We think of thee as one whose soul, 

'Neath sunny skies and balmy air, 
Where flesh and sense no more control, 

Will quick expand in beauties rare. 
Again the angel Death draws near, 

And fills our souls with wild despair . 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 491 

A shining mark — our brother dear ! 

O, stay thy hand ! in mercy spare ! 
'T is he who first our childish love 

Called forth in accents pure and strong : 
O, must we give him to the tomb 

In life's fair op'ning morn ? 
But prayers and tears cannot avail ; 

Stern death, with cold, relentless hand, 
Is captor now. The spirit pure 

Has winged its flight to summer land. 
The wheels of time roll on apace, 

Our joys and sorrows still combine ; 
Yet hard it is for us to trace 

The workings of a love divine. 
While Death hath entered twice and called 

The fairest ones from our dear band, 
Others have leit the homestead-roo 

And taken for themselves a stand. 
The eldest brother here below 

Gives heart and hand in nuptial love, — 
The dearest gift he could bestow, 

And one which hath its seal above. 
A gentle little sunbeam came 

To cheer and bless their home ; 
But O, how short its pilgrimage, — 

How soon its earthly course is run ! 
We watched beside it day by day ; 

We tried to soothe by gentle song ; 
Yet crushed and drooping, there it lay 

Till angels came and called it home. 
O our Lillie, precious darling ! 

So sweet, so pure, so white, so fair, 
O, surely, now, we must be dreaming ! 

But hark ! sweet music fills the air, 
As underneath the chilling sod 

The lovely, waxen form we lay : 
The gates are standing all ajar, 



492 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And waiting, waiting, angels say, 
For soon another we shall claim. 

'T will make the parting less severe, 
To know thy child has gone before 

And waits for thee "just over there." 
Not long, alas ! had she to wait, 

For all too soon for friends below 
The summons came. The pearly gate 

Is opened wide, and voices low 
Are singing soft and gentle strains 

Of welcome to that peaceful shore, 
Where truth and love triumphant reign, 

And sorrows trouble nevermore. 
We miss thee, brother, but we feel 

'T is well with thee and with the child : 
But O, the torn and bleeding heart 

Of her who cries in anguish wild ! 
" 'T is dark, all dark, and lone and drear ; 

The light of life for me has fled : 
Kind friends, I know, are passing near, 

But oh ! my child — my husband — dead/" 
Thy loved ones, dear, whisper to thee 

And say, Look up ! we are not dead, 
But still our watch and vigil keep 

O'er thee, as through life's maze you tread. 
What joy and comfort, then, is ours, 

To know that loved ones gone before 
Come near and bless our souls each day, 

And guide us to that heavenly shore. 
O, may our hearts be filled with love, 

As upward, onward, still we go, 
Trusting in Him who reigns above, 

Directs our pathway here below. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 493 



"HE LEADETH ME." 

How sweet to feel that God above, 
Holy and just, by his kind love 
Will gently lead us all our days, 
And keep us safe in wisdom's ways. 

How weak and sinful still are we ! 
How much we need the guiding star 
Which points us onward, upward ever — 
Turning backward never — never ! 

Though darkling storms may gather round, 

And scarce a ray of light be found, 

'T is only for a little space 

The sun has hid his glorious face, 

And soon our Father's love divine, 
Will bid its beams go forth and shine 
In radiant splendor far more bright, 
To shed its rays of warmth and light, 

As if unto our souls to prove, 
'Tis not in anger, but in love, 
That for a time he hides his face, 
To draw us nearer that blest place 

Where all is light and love and joy ; 
Where care and pain no more annoy ; 
But tranquil seas and sunny skies, 
Are free to all who earn the prize. 

His voice is calling, calling still, 
And pleads for all to shun the ill : 
Unselfish deeds of love and truth, 
Shall blessings bring to all the earth,— 



494 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Though slow the process oft may seem, 
Its flight is swifter than you deem ; 
And not one precious seed is lost, 
Though hidden 'neath the winter's frost. 

How earnest, then, should be our work ! 
O, let us rise, and with the lark 
Who joyous sings in yonder tree, 
Give praise to Him who " leadeth me." 

"Let us, while we read or study, 
Cull a flower from every page ; 
Here a line, and there a sentence, 
'Gainst the lonely time of age ! 

At our work or by the wayside, 
While we ponder, while we play, 

Let us thus, by constant effort, 
Learn a little every day" 



THE LITTLE ONES. 

God, bless them all, these little ones 
So dear and precious in thy sight I 

They come to cheer our hearts and homes, 
And fill our souls with glad delight. 

I love to watch the baby dear 
Who sits upon his mother's knee ; 

His timid eyes, so bright and clear, 
Just for a moment rest on me, — 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 495 

Then turning quick his little face, 
He nestles close to mamma's breast ; 

She clasps him in a fond embrace, 
And softly whispers, * Darling blest !" 

I love to watch the tiny bud 

Unfold its leaves in light of day, 
It makes me gentle, kind and good, 

And helps to cheer me on my way. 

I see the tender buds expand 

So sweetly, gently, one by one : 
The babe no longer I behold, 

He, too, has older, wiser grown, — 

But still we call him baby-boy, 

The merry, laughing little elf! 
He joins the children in their play, 

And none more happy than himself. 

I love to watch them sport and play, 

As joyous, happy, free from care, 
They bask in sunshine all the day 

'Mid fragrant flowers and balmy air : 

For soon, I know, the time will come 
When they must fight life's battles too, 

And strive all evil ways to shun ; 
For future joy or future woe 

Depends upon each word and deed 

Which marks our pathway here below ; 

For here we only sow the seed ; 
If good or ill, we scarcely know. 

O, grant us wisdom from above, 
And may we each select with care, 



496 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

Seeds of kindness, seeds of love, 

And broadcast strew them everywhere. 

And as the tiny seeds take root, 

And tender shoots come springing forth, 

O, may they all bear precious fruit, 
In rich abundance, here on earth ; 

Then when we 're called from earth away, 
Bright angels from a higher sphere 

Shall welcome us, and kindly say, 
Thy deeds of love are cherished here. 

Again we seek thy love and care, 
And for ourselves thine aid implore ; 

O, keep us safe from every snare — 
Uphold us by thy mighty power, 

And help us wisely to direct 
All those intrusted to our care ; 

The little ones may we protect, 

All these so young, so pure, so dear ! 

O, may they early learn the truth ! 

Their warm and tender hearts perceive 
More quickly in the spring of youth, 

As simply trusting they believe. 

Believe the tender words of love 
Which Jesus gave for such as these : 
• His help and guidance from above, 

O, may they seek on bended knees, — 

And may they e'er be true to Thee — 
The great All-Father — God of love, 

Whose tender mercies, full and free, 
Shall guide them to their home above. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 497 



DKEAMING. 

We sleep, we dream ! nor is this all : 

We raise our weary, drooping lids — 
For what, to gaze upon the wall ? 

We hear a soft, low voice, which bids, 
"Look upward still, 'tis not a dream, 

But vision bright ; and angels fair 
O'ershadow thee, as calm, serene, 

Before thine eyes float beauties rare." 

We hail thee, lov'd ones gone before ; 

Thy gentle presence e'er shall be 
A pure incentive guiding o'er 

The troublous waves of life's dark sea. 
Thrice happy those who nevermore 

Shall look at death as sev'ring ties 
Of earthly love, and friendship pure 

Which points us upward to the skies. 

How sweet to know that angels bright 

And pure do guard our way ! 
In silent watches of the night 

Still hold unbounded sway, 
E'er pointing upward to the light, 

Which ne'er grows dim, or knows decay, 
But bursts upon our raptured sight 

In boundless waves of endless day. 

What peace and comfort then, is ours, 

Though all below seem dark and drear : 
For in these calm and quiet hours 

We feel thy presence ever near, 
To kindly bless the aching heart ; 

To speak sweet words of loving cheer 
In gentle tones, which e'er impart 

A joy unto our souls, most dear. 



498 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



IS IT UPHILL ALL THE WAY? 

Tell us, ye bright-winged messengers of love 
From the spheres of light beyond the blue, 

As our thoughts and wishes soar above 
To the better land just out of view, — 
Is it uphill all the way ? 

We do ofttimes feel, in life's fair morn, 
Ere clouds arise, and shadows dim 

Earth's visions fair and heaven-born, 

Such joys as these can ne'er grow dim ; — 
'T is not uphill all the way. 

But as each year brings more and more 
To chill the heart and freeze the soul, 

We long to reach the " farther shore," 
Where sin and death no more control. 
Is it uphill all the way ? 

We fain would ask thee once again, 
While clouds of dark and deep despair 

Fill heart and soul with woe and pain ; 
We long, O, we long to be there. 
Is it uphill all the way? 

M My child ! " the angel-voice replies, 
" 'T is not all dark and lone and sad : 

Wiry so tearful — why those sighs ? 
For much thou hast to make thee glad, 
Though 't is uphill all the way ! 

We would not chide thee, precious child ; 

We know thy life is fraught with care, 
Thy heart breaks forth in anguish wild, 

Thy bosom heaves with deep despair, 
For H is uphill all the way. 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 499 

But the lesson we would teach 

Is one of patience, faith, and hope, 
Which shall in wisdom far outreach 

Thine earthly vision's narrow scope ; 
Yet, 'tis uphill all the way. 

There is no good which comes unsought ; 

The blessings you crave must all be earned, 
Not with silver and gold be bought. 

Thy lone spirit, for love hath yearned ; 

Therefore, 'tis uphill all the way. 

Yet, if for others, who, like thee, 

Pine from sorrows and griefs untold, 
Thy heart goes out in loving sympathy, 

Peace its wings shall thee enfold, 

Though H is uphill all the way." 



PATIENCE. 



I pray Thee, Father, patience give, 
And let me feel thy presence near ; 

O, may I daily, hourly live — 
Upheld by thy kind, loving care, — 

So pure and truthful, free from guile, 
That no harsh word or deed unkind, 

Shall chase away the beaming smile, 
Or leave an anxious thought behind. 

If pain and sickness be my lot, 
O, may I patience still possess, 

To kindly soothe some aching heart 
With words of love and tenderness,- 



500 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 

And may I feel for others" woes, 
Forgetful of the pains I bear, 

Like Him who on us each, bestows 
A portion of his love and care. 

If when my eager, thirsty soul, 
A higher knowledge to obtain, 

Would fain press onward to the goal 
And burst asunder ev'ry chain, 

I find some links which will not yield, 
But hold me in a tight embrace, 

Then let my patience be revealed, 
Till time shall bring a sweet release. 

My soul is longing for a sight, 

Of future bliss — of joys supreme ; 

Those worlds of beauty, fields of light, 
Our vision dim can scarce conceive, 

So dazzling bright they seem to be : 
Yet, how I long to catch one gleam 

Of my home beyond the crystal sea, 
Ere called to stem death's icy stream ! 

I know my loved ones wait me there, 

Though long and weary years have passed 

Since I beheld their forms so fair. 
Such friendships pure must always last, — 

No change of time, no change of place, 
Can warm and true hearts sever, 

Nor can their image bright efface ; 
'Twill linger ever — O, for ever? 

I 'm longing now, I 've longed before, 
To hear those sweet and gentle tones 



THE UNSEALED BOOK. 501 

Which came to me, in days of youcn, 
From lips of those, my darling ones, 

Who now beyond this vale of tears 

Have passed, to mansions bright and fair, 

Prepared for all His children dear, 
Surrounded by His loving care. 

But if there 's work for me to do 

Before I pass to yon bright shore, 
O, quicken me — inspire anew 

My feeble frame ! and grant me more 

Of heavenly wisdom, zeal and power ! 

More patience, too, wilt thou impart, 
And may I ever, from this hour, 

Do good, and trust with all my heart. 

One favor more I 'd ask of thee, 

As now I feel thy presence near ; 
Lighten mine eyes, that I may see ! 

My pathway make so plain and clear, 

That I may wander nevermore 

From wisdom's sweet and holy ways : 

More bold and fearless than before, 
I then will tread life's thorny maze ; 

In patience, too, I'll calmly wait, 

And strive my mission to fulfill ; 
I'll gladly work for thy dear sake, 

Fulfilling all thy blessed will. 

I know that all I have is thine : 

O, may I ever faithful prove, 
Rejoicing if one deed of mine 

Be worthy to record above. 



502 THE UNSEALED BOOK. 



THE HEAVENLY CITY, 

There 'a a city above, not made with hands , 

Its gates are of crystal, and open wide ; 
For all His dear children in far-away lands* 

The kind, loving Father, will ever provide. 
Not one so polluted and hardened in sin, 

But deep in his heart — though unheeded, maybe, 
There 's a still, small voice, ever whisp'ring low 

To its own guardian spirits, Come in, come in ! 
O, then, in the quiet of eventide, 

When the air, the earth, and the skies are still, 
May we seek for heavenly counsel, to guide, 

And to teach us thy blessed and holy will. 
May our dear spirit-friends, in these calm hours, 

Give wisdom from the fount of life above, 
Which, like gentle dews distill'd on flowers, 

Shall freshen our souls, make purer our love. 
And then, kind Father of all below, 

Still nearer to thee may we daily come ; 
Our desires reaching far from earth away, 

May we seek to learn of the far brighter home, 
And may the dear friends whom we love on earth, 

All with us unite to bless mankind, 
And to help each erring, sin-burden'd heart, 

The life, the way, and the truth to find. 
May we, while on earth, ever strive to live 

The life of the righteous ; then, freed from sin, 
We shall, by our deeds and labors, prove 

That the love of our God doth dwell within. 



f 



< 



& 



